Self Restraint V Self Indulgence

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SELF-RESTRAINT

V.

SELF-INDULGENCE

BY
M. K. GANDHI

NAVAJIVAN PUBLISHING HOUSE
AHMEDABAD

PUBLISHERS NOTI

Till now this book was issued in two separate
volumes; the reader will find in this new edition both
of them issued in one. The collection has been revised
and brought up-to-date. Thus, the reader will find,
collected under one cover, all the writings of Oandhiji
on this important subject.

September, 1947

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION

It is gratifying to note that the third edition of this
volume is required by the public. I wish that I had time
to add one or more chapters to the volume, but I cannot
delay publication so that I might add the chapters. I
would have done so if I could be sure of finding the
time needed for it.

From what, however, I have discovered from the
letters that regularly come to me from inquirers, I would
like to issue this definite warning : Those who believe
in self-restraint must not become hypochondriacs. The
letters that come to me show that many correspondents
brood over their ill-success in the exercise of self-
restraint. Like everything else that is good, self-restraint
too requires an inexhaustible store of patience. There is
absolutely no reason to despond, and there must be no
brooding. There should be no conscious effort to drive
away evil thoughts. That process is itself a kind of
indulgence.

The best prescription perhaps is non-resistance, i. e ,
ignoring the existence of evil thoughts and a continuous
pre-occupation with duties that lie in front of one. This
presupposes ,1he existence of some kind of all-absorbing
service requiring the concentration of mind, soul and
body upon it. " Idle hands some mischief still will ever
find to do", is never so applicable as in this case. Evil
thoughts, much more evil deeds are impossible when 1
we are thus pre-occupied. Strenuous labour in accordance
with one's physical capacity is, therefore, absolutely
necessary for those who will obey the law of self-
restraint which is indispensable for individual as well as
universal progress.
Satyagraha Ashram,

Sabarmati, M. K. GANDHI

3rd August, 1928

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

That the first edition was sold out practically within
a week of its publication, is a matter of joy to me. The
correspondence that the series of articles collected in
this volume has given rise to, shows the need of such a
publication. May those who have not made self-indul-
gence a religion, but who are struggling to regain lost
self-control which should under normal conditions be
our natural state, find some help from a perusal of
these pages. For their guidance the following instructions
may move needful :

\-xfT Remember if you are married that your wife is
your friend, companion and co-worker, not an instru-
ment^of sexual enjoyment.

^iT Self-control is the law of your being. Therefore,
the sexual act can be performed only when both desire
it, and that too subject to rules which in their lucidity
both may have agreed upon.

3. If you are unmarried you owe it to yourself, to
society and to your future partner to keep yourself
pure. If you cultivate this sense of loyalty, you will find
it as an infallible protection against all temptation.

4. Think always of that Unseen Power which, though
we may never see, we all feel within us as watching
and noting every impure thought, and you will find that
Power ever % helping you.

T 5. Laws governing a life of self-restraint must be
necessarily different from a life of self-indulgence. There-
fore you will regulate your society, your reading, your
.haunts of recreation and your food.

You will seek the society of the good and the pure.

YotTwill resolutely refrain from reading passion-
breeding novels and, magazines and i*ead the works
that sustain humanity. You will make one bookjyour
constant companion for reference^ jnd guidance.

vi

You will avoid theatres and cinemas. Recreation
is where you may not dissipate yourself but recreate
yourself. You will, therefore, attend bhajan-mandahi
where the word and thejiine uplift the soiu. """'

You will eat not to satisfy your palate but your
hunger. (X self-indulgent man lives to eat; a self-
restrained man eats to livf) Therefore, you will abstain
from all irritating condiments, alcohol which excites
the nervgs, and^ narcotics which cteaden .. the sense of
nght and vyronar You will "regulate the quantity and
time of^yCoir meals.

** 0** When your passions threaten to get the better
^f you, go down on your knees and cry out to God
for help, ftamanama is i my infallible hei^ As extraneous
aid take a L 'j&ip-baUi f i. e., sit in a tub full of cold water
with your legs out of it, and you will find your passions
have immediately cooled. Sit in it for a few minutes
unless/you are weak and there is danger of a chill.

^TTake brisk walking exercise in the open air
earlyfoi the morning and at night before going to bed.

\^& 'Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man
healthy, wealthy and wise,' is a sound proverb. 9 o'clock
to bed and 4 o'clock to rise is a good rule. Go to bed
on an empty stomach. Therefore, your last meal must
not burner 6 p. m.

^*& Remember that man is a representative of God
to serve all that lives and thus to express God's dignity
and love. Let service be your sole joy, and you will
need no other enjoyment in life.

M. K. GANDHI

CONTENTS
PART I

Gandhi jt's Writings

Prefaces, ..... IV

1. * Towards Moral Bankruptcy ' . .3

2 Birth Control .... 39

3. Some Arguments Considered . . .41

4. On the Necessity of Continence . . 49

5. Self-Control . . . . .57

6. Brahmacharya ... 61

7. Truth v. Brahmacharya . . .65

8 Purity . .... 68

9 In Confidence . ... 70
10 Abolish Marriage ' * 75

11. Conservation of Vital Energy . . .78

12. Influence of Attitudes ... 81

13. A Moral Struggle . 85

14. Vow of Brahmacharya ... 88

15. ' Startling Conclusions ' . . .93

16. Brahmacharya or Chastity ... 96

17. Birth Control (I) . . .99

18. Birth Control (II) .... 102

19. Married Brahmacharya .... 104

20. The Cause of It . . . 107

21. For Contraceptives .... 109

22. For Women ^Reformers . . . 114

23. Self-Control "again . . . .118

24. Birth Control through Self-Control . . 121

25. What it is like . . . .123

26. A Witness from America . . . 125

27. * A Voice in the Wilderness ' . .126

28. Wonderful if True . . . .128

29. Sexual Perversion ' . . . . 130

30. A Growing Vice ? . . . .132

31. Duty of Reformers . . . .133

Vlll

32. For the Young .... 135

33. Heading for Promiscuity . . 138

34. A Youth's Difficulty . . - 141

35. For Students . . . - .143

36. A Moral Dilemma .... 146

37. The Marriage Ideal . . . .148

38. Sex Education .... 151

39. An Unnatural Father .... 155

40. A Renunciation . ... . 156

41. Nothing without Grace .... 158

42. How Non-violence Works . . 161

43. Students' Shame . . .166

44. The Modern Girl .... 170

45. Obscene Advertisements . * . 172

46. How to Stop Obscene Advertisements ? . 174

47. Famines and Birth Bate .... 175

48. Self -Restraint in Marriage . . . 176

49. How 'did I Begin It ? . . 179

50. Walls of Protection . . .181

51. A Perplexity . . . . .184

52. In Defence .... 186

53. On Contraceptives . . 188

PART II

Extracts from Mahadev Desai's Weekly Letters

I. On the Threshold of Married Life . . 191

II. A Birth Control Enthusiast . . .196

III. Problem of Birth Control . . .199

IV. Mrs. Sanger and Birth Control . . . 201
V. Wrong Apotheosis of Women . . 211

Appendices

1. Generation and Regeneration . . .213

2. Chastity and Sensuality . . . 229

SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

PART I

GANDHIJI'S WRITINGS

1

' TOWARDS MORAL BANKRUPTCY '
I

Kind friends continue to send me cuttings from Indian
newspapers approvingly dealing with the question of
birth control by the use of contraceptives. My correspon-
dence with young men on their private conduct is
increasing. I am able to discuss in these pages only
an infinitesimal portion of the questions raised by my
correspondents. American friends send me literature on
the subject, and some are even angry with me for
having expressed an opinion against the use of contra-
ceptives. They deplore that as an advanced reformer
in many ways I should be mediaeval in my views about
birth control. I find too that the advocates of the use
of contraceptives number among them some of the
soberest of men and women of all lands.

I therefore thought that there must be something
very decisive in favour of the methods advocated, and
felt too that I should say on the subject more than I
have done. Whilst I was thinking of the problem and
of the question of reading the literature on the subject,
a book called Towards Moral Bankruptcy was placed in
my hands for reading. It deals with this very subject
and, as it appears to me, in a perfectly scientific manner.
The original is in French by M. Paul Bureau and is
entitled *D' Inhsciphne des moews which literally means
'the indiscipline of morals 1 . The translation is published
by Constable and Company and has an introduction by
Dr. Mary Scharlieb, C. B. E. f M. D,, M. S. (Lond.). It
covers 538 pages in 15 chapters.

Having read the book I felt that, before I summarized
the author's views, 1 must in justice to the cause read the
standard literature in favour of the methods advocated.

4 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

I [consequently borrowed from the' Servants of India
Society such literature as they had on the subject. They
have vQry kindly lent me some of the books in their
possession. Kaka Kalelkar, who is studying the subject,
has given me Havelock Ellis 1 volumes specially bearing
on the subject, and a friend has sent me the special
number of The Practitioner in which is collected some
valuable medical opinion from well-known practitioners.

My purpose in collecting literature on the subject
was to test the accuracy, so far as a layman could, of
M. Bureau's conclusions. One often finds that there are
two sides to questions even when scientists discuss
them and that there is much to be said for either side.
I was anxious, therefore, to know the viewpoints of the
advocates of contraceptives before I introduced to the
reader M. Bureau's volume. I have come to the delibe-
rate conclusion that, so far at least as India is concerned,
there is no case for the use of contraceptives. Those
who advocate their use for Indian conditions either do
not know them or choosQ to ignore them. But if it can
be proved that the methods advocated are harmful even
in the West, it would be unnecessary to examine the
special Indian conditions.

Let us therefore see what M. Bureau has to say. His
studies are confined to France. But France means much.
It is considered to be one of the most advanced countries
in the world, and if the methods have failed in France,
they are not likely to succeed elsewhere.

Opinions may differ as to the meaning of the word
failure'. I must therefore define the word as it is here
meant. The methods must be proved to have failed, if
it can be shown that moral bonds have loosened, that
licentiousness -has increased, and that instead of the
check having been exercised by men and women for
purposes of health and economic limitation of families
only it has been used principally for feeding animal
passions. This is the moderate position. The extreme
moral position condemns the use of contraceptives in
.every conceivable circumstance, it being contended that

'TOWARDS MORAL BANKRUPTCY' 5

it is not necessary for man or woman to satisfy the
sexual instinct except when the act is meant for race
reproduction, even as it is not necessary for. man or
woman to eat except for sustaining the body. There is
also the third position. There is a class of men who
contend that' there is no such thing as morality, or that,
if there is, it consists not in exercising restraint but in
indulgence of every form of animal appetite, so long as
it does not so impair the constitution as to render it
unfit for the very indulgence which is its object, For
this extreme position I do not suppose M. Bureau has
written his volume. For M. Bureau concludes his book
by quoting Tom Mann's saying, "The future is for the
nations who are chaste ".

In the first part of his book M. Bureau has collected
facts which make most dismal reading. It shows how vast
organizations have sprung up in France which merely
pander to man's basest tastes. Even the one claim of
the advocates of contraceptives that abortions must
disappear with the use of these methods cannot be
sustained. "It is certain, " says M. Bureau, "that during
the twentyfive years that have especially seen the
increase in France of anti-conceptionist methods, the
number of criminal abortions has not become less 1 '. M.
Bureau is of opinion that abortions are on the increase.
He puts down the figure at anything between 275,000 and
325,000 per year. Public opinion does not look upon
them with the horror that it did years ago.

II

"In the wake of abortion, 1 ' says M. Bureau, "come
infanticide, incest, and crimes that outrage nature. There
is nothing special to say about the first, except that the
crime has become more frequent in spite of -all the
facilities offered to unmarried mothers and of the
extension of anti-conceptionist practices and abortion.
It no longer arouses the same reprobation among so- called
respectable people, and juries usually return a verdict
of 'not guilty 1 . 11

6 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

M. Bureau devotes a full section to the growth of
pornographic literature. He defines it as " the exploitation,
with an erotic or obscene intention, of the resources
vhich literature, the drama, and pictures place at men's
disposal for their mental refreshment and repose. M And
he adds, "In every branch of its business it has secured
markets, the extent of which may be gauged by the
ingenuity and excellent commercial organization of the
directors, the enormous amount of capital, the unexampled
perfection of the methods employed." "The impression
experienced has been so strong and so unique that the
whole psychological life of the individual is affected by
it, 11 and "a sort of secondary sexual life, which exists
wholly in the imagination, is created. 11

M. Bureau then quotes this pathetic paragraph from
M. Ruyssen :

"All pornographic and sadic literature secures in
this psychological law the most powerful enticement
which it exerts over an innumerable number of readers,
and the flourishing circulation of this literature shows
beyond dispute that those who live a secondary sexual
life through their imagination are legion, not to mention
those in lunatic asylums especially in a period like our
own, when the abuse of newspapers and books creates
around all consciences what W. James calls ' a plurality
of under-universes ', in which each can lose himself, and
forget, along withhimself, the duties of the present hour."

These disastrous consequences, it should never be
forgotten, are a direct result of one single fundamental
error, namely that sexual indulgence for its own sake is
a human necessity, and that without it neither man nor
woman reaches his or her full growth. Immediately a
person becomes possessed of such an idea and begins
to look upon what in his estimation was at one time a vice
as a virtue, there is no end to the multiplication of
devices that would excite animal passions and help him
to indulge in them.

M. Bureau then gives chapter and verse to show
how the daily press, the magazine, the pamphlet, the

4 TOWARDS MORAL BANKRUPTCY' 7

novel, the photograph and the theatre increasingly
pander to and provide fcfr this debasing taste.

But the reference hitherto has been to the .decay of
morals amongst unmarried people. M. Bureau next pro-
ceeds to show the measure of moral indiscipline in the
married state. He says: "Among the aristocracy, the
middle class, and the peasants, vanity and avarice are
responsible for a vast number of marriages. 11 " Marriage
is entered upon also to obtain an advantageous post,
to join two properties, especially two landed estates, to
regularize a former connection or to legitimatize a natural
child; to provide unfailing and devoted attentions for a
man's rheumatics and old age, to be able to choose the
place of his garrison at the time of conscription, " also
11 to put an end to a life of vice of which they are be-
ginning to be weary and to substitute another form of
sexual life. n

M. Bureau then cites facts and figures to show that
these marriages, instead of reducing licentiousness,
actually promote it. This degradation has been immensely
helped by the so-called scientific or mechanical inven-
tions designed to restrict the effect of the sexual act
without interfering with the act itself. I must pass by the
painful paragraphs regarding the increase in adultery
and startling figures regarding judicial separations and
divorces which during the last twenty years have more
than doubled themselves. I can also make only a passing
reference to the extension of unrestricted freedom for
indulgence to the female sex on the principle of ' the
same moral standard for the two sexes '. The perfec-
tion of the anti-conceptional practices and the methods
of bringing about abortion has led to the emancipation
of either sex from all moral restraint. No wonder marri-
age itself is laughed at. Here is a passage M. Bureau
quotes from a popular author : " Marriage is always
according to my judgment one of the most barbarous
institutions ever imagined. I have no doubt that it will
fie abolished if the human race makes any progress
towards justice and reason. . . . But men are too gross

8 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

and women too cowardly to demand a nobler law than
that which rules them. "

The results of the practices referred to by M. Bureau
and of the theories by which the practices are justified
are minutely examined. He exclaims : f f We are, then, being
carried away by the movement of moral indiscipline
towards new destinies. What are they? Is the future
that opens before us one of progress and light, of be-
auty and growing spirituality, or of retrogression and
darkness, of deformity and animalism that is ever de-
manding more ? Is the indiscipline, which has been esta-
blished, one of those fruitful revolts against antiquated
rules, one of those beneficent rebellions which posterity
remembers with gratitude because they were at certain
epochs the necessary preliminary to its progress and
its rise, or is it not rather the old Adam which rises up
within us against the rules whose very strictness is
indispensable if we are to withstand the thrust of its
bestial appeal? Are we face to face with an evil revolt
against the discipline of safety and life ? " Then M. Bureau
cites overwhelming testimony to show that hitherto the
results have been disastrous in every respect. They
threaten life itself.

Ill

It is one thing when married people regulate, so
far as it is humanly possible, the number of their pro-
geny by moral restraint, and totally another when they
do so in spite of sexual indulgence and by means adopted
to obviate the result of such indulgence. In the one case
the people gain in every respect. In the other there is
nothing but harm. M. Bureau has produced figures and
diagrams to show that the increasing use of contracep-
tives for the purpose of giving free play to animal pas-
sion and yet obviating the natural results of such indul-
gence has resulted in the birth rate being much lower
than the death rate, not in Paris only but in the whole
of France. Out of 87 areas into which France is divided,
in 68 the birth rate is lower than the death rate. In

TOWARDS MORAL BANKRUPTCY 1 9

one case, i. e. Lot, deaths were 162 against 100 births.
Next comes Tar net-Garonne with 156 deaths against 100
births. . Even out of 19 areas where the birth rate is
higher than the death rate, the difference is negligible
in several cases. In ten areas alone is there an effective
difference. The lowest death rate, i. e. 72 against 100
births, occurs in Morbihan and Pas-de-Calais. M. Bureau
shows that this process of depopulation, which he calls

I voluntary death ' , has not yet been arrested.

M. Bureau then examines 'the condition of French
provinces in detail, and he quotes the following para-
graph from M. Gide written in 1914 about Normandy:

II Normandy has lost in the course of 50 years more than
300,000 inhabitants, that is to say, a population equal to
that of the whole department of the Orne. Every 20
years she now loses the equivalent of a department,
and as she includes but five, a century will be enough
to see her fat meadows empty of Frenchmen I say
advisedly of Frenchmen, for assuredly others will come
to occupy them, and it would be a pity were it other-
wise. Germans work the iron mines round Caen and
for the first time, only yesterday, a vanguard of Chinese
labourers landed where William the Conqueror set sail
for England. " And M. Bureau adds by way of comment
on the paragraph, "How many other provinces are in
no better condition! "

He then goes on to show that this deterioration in
population has inevitably led to the deterioration in the
military strength of the nation. He believes that the cessa-
tion of emigration from France is also due to the same
cause. He then traces to the same cause the decay of
French colonial expansion, the decay of French com-
merce and the French language and culture.

M. Bureau then asks, " Are the French people who
have rejected the ancient sexual discipline more ad-
vanced in securing happiness, material prosperity, phy-
sical health, and in intellectual culture? 11 He answers,
11 With regard to the improvement in health, a few words
will suffice. However strong our wish to answer all

10 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

objections methodically, it is all the same very difficult to
take seriously the assertion that sexual ' emancipation '
would tend to strengthen one's body and improve, one's
health. On every side one hears of the diminished vigour
of both young people and adults. Before the war the
military authorities had to lower time after time the
physical standard of the recruits, and power of endurance
has seriously diminished throughout the whole nation.
Doubtless it would be unjust to maintain that lack of
moral discipline is alone responsible for this decline,
but it has a large share in it, together with alcoholism,
insanitary housing, etc. ; and if we look closely, we shall
easily discover that this indiscipline and the sentiments
which perpetuate it are the strongest allies of these
other scourges. . . . The frightful extension of venereal
diseases has done incalculable injury to the public health. "

M. Bureau even disputes the theory advanced by
Neo-Malthusians that wealth of individuals in a society
which regulates its births increases in proportion to the
restriction it imposes upon them, and fortifies his answer
by comparing the favourable German birth rate and her
increasing material prosperity with the decreasing birth
rate of France side by side with its decreasing wealth.
Nor has the phenomenal expansion of trade in Germany,
M. Bureau contends, been attained at the cost of the
workmen more than elsewhere. He quotes M. Rossignol :
11 People died of hunger in Germany when she had but
41 ,000,000 inhabitants: they have become richer and
'richer since she numbered 68,000,000, " and adds,
" These people, who are by no means ascetics, found
it possible to place annually in the savings banks sums
which in 1911 amounted to 22,000 million francs; while
in- 1895 the deposits only reached 8,000 millions; an in-
crease of 850 millions a year. fl

The following paragraph which M. Bureau writes
about the general culture of Germany after describing
its technical progress will be read with much interest :

'" Without being initiated into the depths of sociology
one can have no doubt of it, for it is quite evident that

'TOWARDS MORAL BANKRUPTCY' 11

such technical progress would have been impossible,
had not workmen of a more refined type, foremen more
highly educated, perfectly trained engineers been found.
. . . The industrial schools are of three kinds : pro-
fessional, numbering over 500, with 70,000 pupils; tech-
nical, still more numerous, and some of them with over
1,000 pupils; lastly, the colleges devoted to higher ins-
truction with their 15,000 pupils, which confer like the
Universities the envied title of doctor. . . . 365 com-
mercial schools attract 31,000 pupils and in innumerable
schools courses of agriculture give instruction to over
90,000. What, compared with these 400,000 pupils in
the different lines of the production of wealth, are the
35,000 pupils of our professional courses, and why, since
1,770,000 of our people, of whom 779,798 are below
eighteen years of age, live by the cultivation of the soil,
are there but 3,255 pupils in our special schools of
agriculture? 11 M. Bureau is careful enough to note that
all this phenomenal rise of Germany is not entirely due
to the surplus of births over deaths, but he does contend
with justice that given other favourable conditions a
preponderating birth rate is an indispensable condition
of national growth. Indeed, the proposition he has set
forth to prove is that a growing birth rate is in no way
inconsistent with great material prosperity and moral
progress. We in India are not in the position of France
so far as our birth rate is concerned. But it may be said
that the preponderating birth rate in India, unlike as in
Germany, is no advantage to our national growth. But
I must not anticipate the chapter that will have to be
set apart for a consideration of Indian conditions in the
light of M. Bureau's facts and figures and conclusions.

After dealing with an examination of German condi-
tions where the birth rate preponderates over the death
rate, M. Bureau says, "Are we not aware that France
occupies the fourth place and that a very long way
below the third in regard to the total sum of national
wealth ? France has an annual revenue from her invest-
ments of 25,000 million francs, while the Germans are

12 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

drawing from their investments a revenue estimated at
50,000 million francs. . . . Our national soil has
suffered, in thirtyfive years from 1879 to 1914, a depre-
ciation of 40,000 million francs, and is worth only 52,000,
instead of 92,000, millions ! Whole departments of the
country lack men to work the soil, and there are dis-
tricts where- one sees scarcely any but old men. " He
adds that "moral indiscipline and systematic sterility
means the diminution of natural abilities in the commu-
nity, and the undisputed predominance of the old men
in social life. ... In France, there are but 17C
children and young people to every 1,000 inhabitants,
while in Germany there are 220, in England 210. . .
The proportion of the old is greater than it should be,
and the others who are prematurely aged through moral
indiscipline and voluntary sterility share in all the senile
fears of a debilitated race."

The author then observes, "We know that the
immense majority of French people are indifferent tc
this domestic position ( slack morals ) of their rulers
thanks to the convenient theory of the ' wall round private
life 1 . 11 And he quotes with sorrow the following obser
vation of M. Leopold Monod :

"It is a fine thing to go to war in order to cast dowr
infamous abuses, and to break the chains of those whc
suffer from them. But how about men whose fears have
not known how to guard their consciences from entice
ments; men whose courage is at the mercy of a cares;
or a fit of sulks; . . . men who, with no shame
perhaps glorying in the exploit, repudiate the vow whicl
in a joyous and solemn hour they made to the wife o
their youth; men who burden their home with the tyranny
of an exaggerated and selfish egotism how can sucl
men be liberators? "

The author then sums up :

11 Thus, whichever way we turn, we always find the
the various forms of our moral indiscipline have cause<
serious hurt to the individual, the family, and society c
large, and have inflicted on us suffering which is literall

'TOWARDS MORAL BANKRUPTCY' 13

inexpressible. The licentious conduct of our young people,
piostitution, pornography, and marriages for money,
vanity or luxury, adultery and divorce, voluntary sterility
and abortion, have debilitated the nation and stopped
its increase; the individual has been unable to conserve
his energies, and the quality of the new growth has
diminished simultaneously with its quantity. ' Fewer births
and more fine men ' was the watchword, which had
something enticing about it for those who, shut up in
their materialistic conception of individual and social life,
thought they could assimilate the breeding of men to
that of sheep or horses. As Auguste Comte said with
stinging force, these pretended physicians of our social
ills would have done better to become veterinary sur-
geons, incapable as they always were of comprehending
the infinite complexity of the psychology both of the
individual and of the society.

11 The truth is that of all the attitudes which a man
adopts, of all the decisions at which he arrives, of all
the habits which he contracts, there is none which exerts
over his personal and social life an influence comparable
to that exerted by his attitudes, his decisions, and his
habits with regard to the appeals of the sexual appetite.
Whether he resists and controls them, or whether he
yields and allows himself to be controlled by them, the
most remote regions of social life will experience the
echo of his action, since nature has ordained that the
most hidden and intimate action should produce infinite
repercussions.

11 Thanks to this very mystery, we like to persuade
ourselves, when we violate in any way the moral
discipline/ that our misdeed will have no grievous
consequence. As to ourselves, in the first place, we are
satisfied, since our own interest or pleasure has been
the motive of our action; as to society at large, we think
it is so high above our modest selves that it will not
even notice our misdeeds; and above all, we secretly hope
that ' the others ' will have the sense to remain devout and
virtuous. The worst of it is that this cowardly calculation

14 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

almost succeeds while our conduct is as yet an abnormal
and exceptional act; then, proud of our success, we
persevere in our attitude, and when there is occasion
we come and this is our supreme punishment to
believe it lawful.

11 But a day comes when the example given by this
conduct involves other defections; each of our evil deeds
has the result of making more difficult and more heroic
that attachment to virtue which we have counted on in
1 the others ', and our neighbour, tired of being duped,
is now in a hurry to imitate us. That day the downfall
begins, and each can estimate at once the consequences
of his misdeeds and the extent of his responsibilities. . . .

11 The secret act has come out of the hiding place in
which we thought it was confined. Endowed in its own
way with a kind of immaterial radio-activity, it has run
through all sections; all suffer from the fault of each,
because the influence of our actions, like the wavelets
spreading from an eddy, makes itself felt in the most
remote regions of the general social life

"Moral indiscipline at once dries up the fountains
of the race, and hastens the wear and tear of the adults
whom it debilitates both morally and physically."

IV

Having dealt with the indiscipline of morals and ics
aggiavation by the use of contraceptives and its terrible
results the author proceeds to examine the remedies. I
must pass over the portions that deal with legislative
measures, their necessity and yet utter inefficiency. He
then discusses the necessity, by a careful education of
public opinion, of the duty of chastity for the unmarried,
the duty of marriage for that vast mass of mankind that
cannot for ever restrain their animal passions, the duty,
having once married, of conjugal fidelity, and the duty
of continence in marriage. He examines the argument
against chastity that its "precept is against the physio-
logical nature of man and woman and injurious to the
happy equilibrium of their health", and that it is "an

'TOWARDS MORAL BANKRUPTCY' 15

intolerable attack on the freedom and autonomy of the
individual, his right to happiness and to live his life in
his own way."

The author contests thj^doctrine that "the organ of
generation is like the rest" requiring satisfaction. "If it
were," he says, "an organ like the others, how could
we explain the absolute inhibitory power which the will
possesses over it, or the fact that the awakening of
sensuality, which pharisaism calls the sexual necessity,
is the result of the innumerable excitements which our
civilisation provides for young boys and girl? several
years before normal adult age ? "

I cannot resist the temptation of copying the following
valuable medical testimony collected in the book in
support of the proposition that self-restraint is not
only not harmful but necessary for the promotion of the
health and perfectly possible :

"The sexual instinct," says Oesterlen, Professor at
Tubingen University, "is not so blindly all-powerful that
it cannot be controlled, and even subjugated entirely,
by moral strength and reason, The young man, like the
young woman, should learn to control himself until the
proper time. He must know that robust health and
ever-renewed vigour will be the reward of this
voluntary sacrifice.

"One cannot repeat too often that abstinence and
the most absolute purity are perfectly compatible with
the laws of physiology and morality, and that sexual
indulgence is no more justified by physiology and
psychology than by morality and religion."

"The example of the best and noblest among men,"
says Sir Lionel Beale, Professor at the Royal College in
London, "has at all times proved that the most imperious
of instincts can be effectively resisted by a strong and
serious will, and by sufficient care as to manner of life and
occupation. Sexual abstinence has never yet hurt any man
when it has been observed, not only through exterior
restrictive causes, but as a voluntary rule of conduct.
Virginity, in fine, is notftoo hard to observe, provided that

16 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

it is the physical expression of a certain state of

mind Chastity implies, not only continence, but

also purity of sentiments, the energy which is the result
of deep donvictions," *

"Every kind of nervous activity, 11 says the Swiss
psychologist Forel, who discusses sexual anomalies with
a moderation equal to his knowledge, " is increased and
strengthened by exercise. On the other hand, inactivity
in a particular region reduces the effects of the exciting
causes which correspond to it.

"JV& causes of sexual disturbance increase the
intensity of desire. By avoiding these provocations it
becomes less sensitive, and the desire gradually
diminishes. The idea is current among young people
that, continence is something abnormal and impossible,
and yet the many who observe it prove that chastity can
be practised without prejudice to the health."

11 1 know, " says Ribbing, " a number of men of 25, 30
and older than that, who have observed perfect conti-
nence, or who when they married had done so up to
that tinie. Such cases are not rare; only they don't ad-
vertise themselves.

11 1 have received many confidences from students,
healthy both in body and mind, who have remonstrated
with me for not having sufficiently insisted on the ease
with which sensual desires can be ruled. "

11 Before marriage, absolute continence can and ought
to be observed by young men, lf says Dr. Acton. " Chastity
no more injures the body than the soul, 11 declares Sir
James Paget, physician to the English Court. " Discipline
is better than any other line of conduct. 11

"It is a singularly false notion, 11 writes Dr. E. Perier,
11 and one which must be fought against, since it besets
not only the children's mind, but that of the fathers as
well : the notion of imaginary dangers in absolute con-
tinence. Virginity is a physical, moral, and intellectual
safeguard to young men. 11

" Continence, 11 says Sir Andrew Clarke, "does not
harm, it does not hinder development, it increases energy

'TOWARDS MORAL BANKRUPTCY' 17

and enlivens perception. Incontinence weakens self-
control, creates habits of slackness, dulls and degrades
the whole being, and lays it open to diseases which can
be transmitted to several generations. To say that incon-
tinence is necessary to the health of young men is
not only an error, but a cruelty. It is ' at once false
and hurtful. "

"The evils of incontinence are well-known and un-
disputed," writes Dr. Sur bled, " those produced by con-
tinence are imaginary; what proves this is the fact of the
many learned and voluminous works devoted to the
explanation of the former, while the latter still await
their historian. As to these latter there are but vague
assertions, which hide themselves, for very shame, in
mere talk, but which will not endure the daylight."

"I have never seen," writes Dr. Montegazza in La
Phy*wloie de rumour, "a disease produced by chastity.
. . . All men, and especially young men, can experience
the immediate benefits of chastity."

Dr. Dubois, the famous professor of neuropathology
at Berne, affirms that "there are more victims of neuras-
thenia among those who give free rein to their sensua-
lity than among those who know how to escape from
the yoke of mere animalism;" and his testimony is fully
confirmed by that of Dr. Fere, physician at the Bicetre
Hospital, who testifies that those who are capable' of
psychic chastity can maintain their continence without
any fear for their health, which does not depend on the
satisfaction of the sexual instinct.

11 There has been unfitting and light talk," writes
Professor Alfred Fournier, " about ' the dangers of
continence for the young man '. I can assure you that
if these dangers exist I know nothing about them, and
that as a physician I am still without proof of their
existence, though I have had every opportunity in the
way of subjects under my professional observation.

11 Besides this, as a physiologist I will add that
true virility is not attained before the age of twentyone,

18 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

or thereabouts, and the sexual necessity does not
obtrude itself before that period, especially if unhealthy
excitements have not aroused it prematurely. Sexual
precocity is merely artificial, and is most often the
result of ill-directed upbringing.

11 In any case, be sure that danger of this kind lies
far less in restraining than in anticipating the natural
tendency; you know what I mean."

Lastly, after these most authoritative testimonies, to
which it would be easy to add many others, M. Bureau
quotes the resolution unanimously voted at Brussels in
1902 by the 102 members present at the Second General
Congress of the International Conference of Sanitary and
and Moral Prophylaxis, a Congress which assembled to-
gether the most competent authorities on the subject
throughout the world : " Young men must above all be
taught that chastity and continence are not only not
harmful, but also that these virtues are among those to be
most earnestly recommended from the purely medical
and hygienic standpoint."

M. Bureau then proceeds :

11 There was also a unanimous declaration issued by
the professors of the Medical Faculty of Christiania Uni-
versity, a few years ago : ' The assertion that a chaste
life will be prejudicial to the health rests, according to
our unanimous experience, on no foundation. We have
no knowledge of any harm resulting from a pure and
moral life. 1

11 The case has therefore been heard, and sociologists
and moralists can repeat with M. Ruyssen this elemen-
tary and physiological truth ' that the sexual appetite
does not need, like the requirements of aliment and
exercise, a minimum of necessary satisfaction. It is a fact
that man or woman can lead a chaste life without expe-
riencing, except in the case of a few abnormal subjects,
serious disturbance or even painful inconvenience. It has
been said and cannot be too often .repeated, since such
an elementary truth can be so widely disregarded that

'TOWARDS MORAL BANKRUPTCY' Hvd

no disease ever comes through continence to normal
subjects, who form the immense majority, while many
diseases, very well known and very serious, are
the results of incontinence. Nature has provided in tfie
most simple and infallible way for the excess of nutrition
which is represented by the . seminal fluid and the
menstrual flux. 1

11 Dr. Viry is therefore right in denying that the
question is one of a true instinct or a real need. ' Every-
one knows what it would cost him not to satisfy the
need of nourishment or to suppress respiration, but no
one quotes any pathological consequences, either acute
or chronic, as having followed either temporary or
absolute continence. ... In normal life we see the
example of chaste men who are neither less virile in
character, nor less energetic in will, nor less robust than
others, nor less fitted to become fathers if they marry.
... A need which can be subject to such variations, an
instinct which accommodates itself so well to lack of
satisfaction, is neither a need nor an instinct. '

"Sexual relationship is far from answering to any
physiological need of the growing boy; quite the contrary,
it is perfect chastity which is sternly required by the
exigencies of his normal growth and development, and
those who violate it cause irreparable injury to their
health. ' The attainment of puberty is accompanied by
great changes, a veritable disturbance of various functions,
and a general development. The adolescent boy needs
all his vital strength, for during this period $ere is
often a weakening of the resistance to sicknsss: disease
and mortality are higher than in the earlier period. . . .
The long work of general growth, of organic evolution,
that whole series' of physical and psychic changes^ at
the end of which the child becomes a man, involves a
toilsome effort of nature. At that moment, all overdriving
is dangerous, but especially the premature exercise of
the sexual function. 1 "

20 SELF-RESTRAINT V SELF-INDULGENCE

V

After dealing with the physiological benefits of chastity
M. Bureau' quotes the following passage from Professor
Montegazza on its moral and intellectual advantages :

11 All men, and young men in particular, can expe-
rience the immediate benefit of chastity. The memory
is quiet and tenacious, the brain lively and fertile, the
will energetic, the whole character gains a strength of
which libertines have no conception; no prism shows us
our surroundings under such heavenly colours as that
of chastity, which lights up with its rays the least objects
in the universe, and transports us into the purest joys
of an abiding happiness that knows neither shadow nor
decline." And the author adds: "The joy, the cordial
merriment, the sunny confidence of vigorous young men
who have remained chaste . . . are an eloquent contrast
to the restless obsessions and feverish excitement of
their companions who are slaves to the demands of
sensuality. 11 He then compares the benefits of chastity
with the ' miserable consequences of lust and debau-
chery.' "No disease, 11 the author states, "could ever be
quoted as the result of continence; who is not aware of
the frightful diseases of which moral indiscipline is the
source? . . . The body . . . finds itself converted into
an indescribable state of rottenness. . . . Nor can we
forget the worse defilement of imagination, heart and
understanding. On every side we hear complaint of the
lowering of character, the unbridled lust of youth, the
overflowing of selfishness. "

So much for the so-called necessity of sexual indul-
gence and the consequent liberty taken by the youth
before marriage. The protagonists of the doctrine of
such indulgence further contend that restraint of the
sexual passion is a restraint upon ' the freedom to dispose
of one's own body '. The author shows by elaborate
argument that restraint on individual freedom in -the
matter of sexual indulgence is a necessity from the
standpoint of sociology and social psychology.

'TOWARDS MORAL BANKRUPTCY' 21

"'In the eyes of sociologists/ 1 the author says, " social
life is nothing but a network of multiform relations,
nothing but an interlacing of actions and reactions, in
the midst of which an activity, isolated and really separated
from the rest, is. unthinkable. On whatever step^ we
resolve, whatever action we attempt, solidarity unites
our resolution and our action to those of our brothers;
and not even our most secret thought or most fugitive
wish fails of an echo so distant that the mind is for ever
incapable of measuring the distance. The social quality
is not, in man, an adventitious or merely accessory quality :
it is immanent, part of his humanity itself; he is a social
being because he is a man. There is no other field of
activity so truly our own : physiology and morality, eco-
nomics and politics, the intellectual and aesthetic domains,
the religious and the social, are all conditioned by a
universal system of mysterious bonds and undefined
relations. The bond is so firm, the net so closely meshed
that sometimes the sociologist stands in real trouble before
this immensity which unfolds itself before him, across
all time and space; he measures in one glance how great,
under certain circumstances, is the responsibility of the
individual, and how he risks becoming petty by liberty
which some social circles might be tempted to grant him. 11

"If," the author further says, " we can say that under
certain circumstances I am not at liberty to spit in the
street, . . . how can I claim the much more important
right of disposing of my sexual energy as I like ? Does
that energy by a unique privilege escape the universal
law of solidarity? WI*> does not see, on the contrary,
that the sovereign importance of the function only
increases the social reaction of the individual acts ? Look
at this young man and this girl who have just established
that false union of which the reader knows the character;
they are persuaded that the agreement concerns nobody
but themselves. They shut themselves up in their .in-
dependence, and pretend to believe that their intimate
and secret action has -no interest for society and is
altogether beyond its control. A childish illusion ! The

22 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

social solidarity which unites the people of one nation,
and, beyond the individual nations, all humanity, finds
no difficulty in passing through all walls, even those of
the secret chambers, and a terrible interrelation joins
that supposed private action to the most distant series
of actions in that social life which it helps to disorganize.
Whether he wills it or not, every individual, wlio asserts
his right to temporary or sterile sexual relations, who
claims the liberty to use. the reproductive energy with
which he is endowed merely for his own enjoyment,
spreads in society the germs of division and disorder.
All deformed as they are by our selfishness and our
disloyalties, our social institutions still take for granted
that the individual will accept with goodwill the obliga-
tions inherent in the satisfaction of the reproductive
appetite. It is by discounting this acceptance that society
has built up its countless mechanisms of labour and
property, of wages and inheritance, of taxation and
military service, of the right of parliamentary suffrage
and civil liberties. By his refusal to take his share the
individual disorganizes everything at one stroke, he
violates the social pact in its very essence, and while
he makes the burden heavier on others' shoulder, he
is no better than an exploiter and a parasite, a thief
and a swindler. We are responsible in the face of society
for our physiological energy, as for all our energies,
and, it might be said, even more than for all the others,
since a society unarmed and almost wholly without
^external pressure is obliged to remit to our goodwill
the ,care to use that energy judiciously and conformably
to the social good."

The author is equally strong on the psychological
ground : " It was said long ago that liberty is in appea-
rance an alleviation, in reality a burden. That is preci-
sely its grandeur. Liberty binds and compels; it increases
the sum of the efforts which each is Joound to make.
The individual desires to be free, he is all inflamed
with the longing to realise himself in the expansion of
his autonomy. The programme seems simple enough,

'TOWARDS MORAL BANKRUPTCY 1 23

and yet his first experiences are enough to show him
its painful complexity. It is in vain that unity is the
dominating characteristic of our nature and. our moral
life; we feel within us various and contradictory impulses;
in each of them we are conscious of ourselves, and yet
everything proves to us that we must choose between
them. You say, young man, that you wish to live your
own life, to realize yourself; but what part of yourself
do you wish to realize, we ask with the great pedagogue,
Foerster ? Which is the better part, that which has its
seat in the centre of your intellectual force, or that which
occupies the lowest, ,the sensual, part of your nature?
If it is true that progress in the individual and in society
consists in a growing spiritualization and in the ever
more complete mastery of spirit over matter, the choice
cannot be doubtful, but there must still be energy to
act, and the undertaking is not an easy one. Perhaps
you will reply : But I do not choose, I wish to realize
my being in one harmonious and organized whole. Very
well; but take care, this very resolution is a choice, for
harmony is only established at the cost of strife. Sterb
und Werde, die and become, said Goethe, and the words
are but the echo of others spoken nineteen centuries
ago by Christ, 'Amen, I say to you, unless the grain of
wheat falling into the ground die, it remaiheth alone;
but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.'

11 ' We wish to be men an easy thing to say, 1 writes
M. Gabriel Seailles, 'but the right turns into duty, stern
duty, in which no one does not fail more or less; we
wish to be free, we announce it with a menacing air;
if we call liberty doing as we like, the slavery of instinct,
we need not be so proud of it; if we are speaking of
the true liberty, let us gird up our loins and prepare
ourselves for the unending fight. We talk about our
unity, our identity, our liberty, and proudly conclude
that we are immortal sons of God. Alas ! if we only try
to seize this Self, it escapes our grasp, it resolves itself
into a multitude of incoherent beings which deny each
other, it is rent by contradictory desires which in turn

24 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

constitute itself; it is wholly (its own essential being
excepted) the prejudice to which it submits, the objects
which tempi it; its pretended liberty is nothing but a
slavery which it does not feel, so does not resist. 1

11 Says Ruyssen :

11 'While continence is a virtue full of repose,
incontinence opens the door to an unknown guest who
may become formidable. The revelation of passion,
which is troublesome at any age, may become in youth
the signal of a radical perversion, we would say of an
irreparable disturbance, of the balance of the will and
the senses. The boy who has contact for the first time
with any woman whatsoever, as a passing encounter, is
really playing with his physical, intellectual, and moral
life; he does not know but it will be the same tomorrow
in the family, at work, in social life; he does not know
how the sensual revelation will come back to haunt
him, what servitude without hope may represent the
too exact term of 'mastery'; and we know of more
than one life ruined after a beginning of richest promise,
the first disappointments of which dated from the first
moral fall.'

"The celebrated verses of the poet echo these
remarks of t the philosopher :

11 'Man's virqm soul is as a vessel deeo,
If the first drops inpoured should tainted be,
Across the soul all ocean's waves may sweep, '
Yet fail that vast abyss from stain to free. 1

"And, not less, this advice of the great British
physiologist, JohnG. M. Kendrick, professor of physiology
at Glasgow University :

"'The illicit satisfaction of nascent passion is not
only a moral fault, it is a terrible injury to the body.
The new need becomes a tyrant if yielded to; a guilty
complacency will listen to it, and make it more impe-
rious; every fresh act will forge a new link in the
chain of habit.

"'Many have no longer strength to break it, and
helplessly end in physical and intellectual ruin, slaves of

4 TO WARDS MORAL BANKRUPTCY 1 25

a habit contracted often through ignorance rather than
perversity. The best safeguard consists in cultivating
within oneself purity of thought and discipline of one's
whole being. 1 "

M. Bureau adds to the foregoing the following from
Dr. Escande :

"As to sexual desire, we assert, the intelligence and
the will have absolute control over it. It is necessary to
employ the term sexual desire, not need, for there is no
question of a function, the non-accomplishment of which
is incompatible with existence. Really it is not a need
at all; but many men are persuaded that it is. The
interpretation they give to the desire makes them look
on cohabitation as absolutely necessary. Now we cannot
look on the sexual act as resulting from senile and
passive obedience to natural laws. We are, on the
contrary, concerned with a voluntary act, following on a
determination or an acquiescence, often premeditated
and prepared for."

VI

After having insisted on chastity before and during
marriage and shown by overwhelming proof that not
only is self-restraint not impossible, not harmful, but
perfectly possible and wholly beneficial both to the mind
and the body, M. Bureau devotes a chapter to the value
and possibility of perpetual continence. The following
opening paragraph is worth reproducing :

"In the first rank of these liberators, these heroes
of the true sexual emancipation, it is only right to name
the young men and women who, the better to devote
themselves to the service of a great cause, choose to
remain all their life in chastity, and renounce the joys
of marriage. The reasons for their resolve vary according
to circumstances; one feels it a duty to remain with an
infirm father or mother; another takes the place, to
orphaned brothers and sisters, of the departed parents;
another desires to devote himself or herself entirely to
the service of science or of art, of tlje poor or the sick #

26 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

or to a work of moral education or of prayer. Similarly
the merit of the voluntary sacrifice may be greater or
less; some, thanks to the benefits of a wise protective
education and the practice of a good moral hygiene, are
almost without sensual temptations; others, more advanced
in the path of virtue, have succeeded, it may be at the
cost of sharp conflicts, of which they alone know the
hardness, in mastering the beast and taming the flesh.
On any supposition, the final resolve is the same : these
men and women have been led to think that the best
way for them to serve is not to marry; and they have
entered into an engagement, it may be with themselves,
it may be with God, to remain in the perfect chastity
of the celibate life. However definite and undoubted may
be the duty of marriage, as we shall see, under certain
circumstances, all these resolutions are legitimate,
because they are inspired by a noble and generous
purpose. 'Painting is a jealous mistress who suffers no
rival,' replied Michael Angelo when marriage was sug-
gested to him; and how many after him have had a like
experience!"

I can corroborate this testimony from the experience
of European friends of almost every description given
by M. Bureau, friends who exercised perpetual restraint.
It is only in India that from childhood we must hear of
marriages. Parents have no other thought, 'no other ambi-
tion, save that of seeing their children well married and
provided for. The one thing brings premature decay of
mind and body, and the other induces idleness and often
makes of one a parasite. We exaggerate the difficulty of
chastity and voluntary poverty and impute extraordi-
nary merit to them, reserve them for mahatm^ and
yo&s and rule the latter out of ordinary life, forgetting
that real mahatmya and yoga are unthinkable in a society
where the ordinary level is brought down to the mudbank.
On the principle that evil like the hare travels faster
than good which like the tortoise though steady goes slow,
voluptuousness of the West comes to us with lightning
peed, and with all its variegated enchantment dazzles and

'TOWARDS MORAL BANKRUPTCY' 27

blinds us to the realities of life. Wfe are almost ashamed
of chastity, and are in danger of looking upon self-imposed
poverty as a crime in the face of the Western splendour that
descends upon us from minute to minute through the
cable and day to day through the steamers that discharge
their cargo on our shores. But the West is not wholly
what we see in India. Even as the South African Whites
ill- judge us when they judge us through the Indian set-
tlers, so shall we ill- judge the West through the human
and the other Western cargo that delivers itself to us
every day. There is in the West a small but inexhaustible
reservoir of puiity and strength which those who have
eyes of penetration may see beneath the deceptive
surface. Throughout the European desert there are oases
from which those who will may drink the purest water
of life. Chastity and voluntary poverty are adopted
without brag, without bluster, and in all humility by
hundreds of men and women, often for no other than
the all-sufficing cause of service of some dear one or
of the country. We often prate about spirituality as if it
had nothing to do with the ordinary affairs of life and
had been reserved for anchorites lost in the Himalayan
forests or concealed in some inaccessible Himalayan
cave. Spirituality that has no bearing on and produces
no effect on everyday life is ' an airy nothing '. Let
young men and women for whose sake Young India is
written from week to week know that it is their duty,
if they would purify the atmosphere about them and shed
their weakness, to be and remain chaste and know too
that it is not so difficult as they have been taught to
imagine.

Let us further listen to M. Bureau: "In proportion
as it ( modern sociology ) follows the evolution of our
manners, and as methodical study digs more deeply the
soil of social realities, the better is the value perceived
of the help which the practice of perpetual chastity
brings to the great work of the discipline of the senses."
"If marriage is the normal state of life for the immense
majority of people, it cannot be that all can, or ought

28 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

to, marry. Even putting aside the exceptional vocations
of which we have just spoken, there are at least three
classes of celibates who cannot be blamed for not being
married : the young people of both sexes who for
professional or economic reasons think it a duty to defer
their marriage; the people who are involuntarily
condemned to celibacy because they cannot find a
suitable partner; finally those who ought to abstain from
marriage in consequence of their physiological defects
that could be transmitted, and who are in some cases
strictly bound to renouce all idea of it. Is it not evident,
then, that the renunciation made by these people, doubly
necessary both for their own happiness and the interest
of society, will be rendered so much the less painful
and so much the more cheerful, because they will find
beside them others who, in full possession of their
physical and intellectual vigour and sometimes with
abundant means, have declared their firm resolution to
remain celibate all their lives ? These voluntary and
choice celibates, who have willed to consecrate
themselves to God without reserve, to prayer and to
the training of the souls, declare that in their eyes
celibacy, far from being a reduced condition of life, is
on the contrary a superior state, in which *nan asserts,
in its plenitude, the mastery of will over instinct. 11

11 To young people of both the sexes," says the
author, " who are still too young to marry, perpetual
celibacy shows that it is possible to pass one's youth
chastely; to the married it recalls the duty which lies
upon them to maintain exact discipline in their conjugal
relations and never to allow a consideration of
self-interest, however legitimate it may be in itself, to
prevail over the higher demands of moral generosity
and loyalty. "

11 The vow of the voluntary celibate," says Foerster,
"far from degrading marriage, is on the contrary
the best support of the sanctity of the conjugal bond,
since it represents in a concrete form man's freedom in
the face of the pressure of his nature. It acts like a

'TOWARDS MORAL PANKRUPTCY' 29

conscience with regard to passing whims and sensual
assaults. Celibacy is also a protection to marriage in the
sense that its existence prevents married people from
looking upon themselves* in their mutual relations as mere
slaves to obscure natural forces, and it leads them to
take openly, in the face of nature, the position of free
beings who are capable of mastery. Those who scoff at
perpetual celibacy as unnatural or impossible do not know
really what they are doing. They fail to see that the line
of thought which makes them talk as they do must
necessarily lead, by strict logic, to prostitution and
polygamy. If the demand of nature is irresistible, how
can a chaste life be required of married people ? And
lastly, they forget the great number of marriages in
which, it may be for several months or years, or even
for life, one of the spouses is condemned to a real
celibacy by the sickness or other disability of the partner.
For this reason alone, true monogamy rises or falls with
the esteem that is paid to celibacy."

VII

The chapter on perpetual continence is followed by
chapters on the duty and indissolubility of marriage.
Whilst the author contends that perpetual continence is
the highest state, it is not possible for the multitude for
whom marriage must be regarded as a duty. He shows
that, if the function and limitations of marriage are
rightly understood, there never can be any advocacy of
contraceptives. It is the wrong moral training that has
brought about the prevalent moral indiscipline. Having
dealt with the opinion of ' advanced ' writers ridiouling
marriage 'the author says :

11 Happily for future generations, this opinion of
pseudo-moralists and of writers who are often utterly
lacking in moral sense, and equally so sometimes in the
real literary spirit, is very far from being that of the
true psychologists and sociologists of our time; and in
nothing is the rupture more complete between the noisy
world of the press, the novel and the stage, and that

30 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

other world where thought is cultivated, and the
mysterious elements of our psychological and social life
are studied in detail."

M. 'Bureau rejects the argument of free love. He
holds with Modestin that " marriage is the union of man
and woman, the association of all life, the communication
of divine and human rights of law." Marriage is not a
"mere civil contract" but a "sacrament, a moral
obligation ". It has succeeded in " making the gorilla
stand erect". <f It is a great mistake to imagine that
everything is permissible to those lawfully married, and
even supposing that husband and wife ordinarily respect
the moral law as to transmission of life, it is untrue that
il* is lawful to add other modes of sexual intercourse
which please them. 'Shis prohibition is as much in their
interest as in that of the society of which their marriage
ought to be the maintenance and development." The
author holds that the ever-renewed opportunities of
deviation from strict discipline which marriage affords to
the sexual instinct are a constant menace to pure love.
This peril can only be exorcised by watchfulness
to keep the satisfaction of the sexual appetite within
the limits defined by the very ends of marriage.
11 It is always dangerous," says St. Francis of Sales, "to
take to violent medicines, since if one takes more than
should be taken, or if they are not well made up, much
harm is done; marriage has been blessed and ordained
partly as a remedy for concupiscence, and it is
undoubtedly a very good remedy, but all the same a
violent one, and consequently very dangerous if not
discreetly used."

The author then combats the theory of individual
liberty to contract or break the marriage bond at will or
to live frankly a life of indulgence without its consequent
obligation. He insists on monogamy and says :

"It is untrue that the individual is at liberty to
contract marriage or to remain in selfish celibacy, as he
pleases; still less are duly married people free to agree
together to the rupture of their union. Their freedom is

'TOWARDS MORAL BANKRUPTCY' 31

shown when they choose each other, and each is bound
to choose only with full knowledge, after careful thought,
the one with whom he believes he can assume the
responsibilities of the new life he is entering. But as
soon as the marriage has been accomplished and
consummated, the act performed involves, far away and
in all directions, incalculable consequences which extend
infinitely beyond the two persons who have brought
them about. These consequences may be unperceived,
in a time of anarchic individualism such as ours, by the
spouses themselves, but their importance is certified by
the grave sufferings which come upon the whole body
social as soon as the stability of the home is shaken, as
soon as the variable caprice of the sensual appetite takes
the place of the beneficent discipline of the positive
monogamic union. To one who is conscious of these
indefinitely extended repercussions and these subtle
connections, it matters little to know that, since all human
institutions are subject to the universal law of evolution,
that of marriage must certainly, like all the rest, undergo
in its turn necessary transformations, since there can be
no doubt that progress in this direction can only take
the form of eventually drawing more closely the marriage
bond. The attacks now made on the rule of the
indissolubility of marriage, when divorce is asked for by
mutual consent, will only bring into more prominent
relief the social value of a rule against which protest is
made, and as the years roll by, this rule, which for some
centuries, when its social value could not yet be appreci-
ated, was simply a prescription of religious discipline,
will appear more and more as a principle as beneficial
to the individual as it is salutary for society at large.

11 The rule of indissolubility is not an arbitrary
adornment; on the contrary, it is bound up with the most
delicate mechanism of the individual and collective social
life; and since people talk about evolution, they should
ask on what condition this indefinite progress of the race,
which all agree to desire, is possible. Writes Foerster :
1 The deepening of the sense of responsibility, the train-

32 SELF-RESTRAINT y SELF-INDULGENCE

ing of the individual towards autonomous discipline
willingly consented to, the growth of patience and charity,
the control of selfishness, the maintenance of the emotional
life against the elements that make for dissolution and
the impulse of passing caprice all these are elements
in roan's interior life which we are entitled to consider
the absolute and permanent conditions of all higher
social culture, and on this account exempt from all such
disorder as might result from a serious change in eco-
nomic conditions. To tell the truth, economic progress
is itself closely bound up with general social progress,
for economic security and success depends in the long
run on the sincerity and loyalty of our social coopera-
tion. Every economic modification which ignores these
fundamental conditions is self-condemned. If we wish,
therefore, to take up the study, at once both moral and
social, of the absolute value of the various methods of
sexual relations, the following question is decisive : What
method is the best adapted to the deepening and streng-
thening of our whole social life ? Which is the most
capable, at the different periods of life, of developing to
the utmost the sense of responsibility, self-abnegation
and sacrifice, of most effectively restraining undisciplined
selfishness and capricious frivolity ? When the matter
is viewed from this standpoint, there is not the slightest
doubt that monogamy, because of its social and educa-
tive value, must form part of. the permanent heritage of
all more advanced civilization; and true progress will
draw more closely, rather than relax, the marriage
bond. . . . The family is the centre of all human pre-
paration for the social life, that is to say, all prepara-
tion for responsibility, sympathy, self-control, mutual
tolerance, and reciprocal training. And the family only
fills this central place because it lasts all through life
and is indissoluble, and because, thanks to this perman-
ence, the common family life becomes deeper, more
stable, more adapted to men's mutual intercourse, than
any other. It may be said that monogamic marriage is
the conscience of all human social life. ' "

' TOWARDS MORAL BANKRUPTCY ' 33

He quotes Auguste Comte : " Our hearts are so
changeable that society must intervene to hold in check
the vacillation and caprices which would otherwise drag
down human existence to be nothing but a series of
unworthy and pointless experiences. 11

11 A fiction, 11 writes Dr. Toulouse, " which often
hinders the happiness of married people, is that the
instinct of love is a tyrant and must be satisfied at any
price. . . . Now the very characteristic quality of man,
and the apparent end of his evolution, is an ever-grow-
ing independence of his appetites. The child learns
to master his coarser needs, and the adult to overcome
his passions. This scheme of all good upbringing is not
chimerical, nor something outside practical life. For the
end of our nature is precisely to be subject, in great
degree, to the personal tendencies which constitute our
will. What one shelters behind as 'temperament 1
is usually nothing but weakness. The man who is
really strong knows how to use his powers at the
right time. 1 '

VIII

It is now time to conclude this series of articles. It
is not necessary to pursue M. Bureau in his examination
of the doctrine of Malthus who startled his generation by
his theory of overpopulation and his advocacy of birth
control if the human species was not to be extinct. Malthus,
however, advocated continence, whereas Neo-Malthu-
sianism advocates not restraint but the use of chemical
and mechanical means to avoid the consequences of
animal indulgence. M. Bureau heartily accepts the doctrine
of birth control by moral means, i. e., self-restraint, and,
as we have seen, rejects and vigorously condemns the
use of chemical or mechanical means. The author then
examines the condition of the working classes and the
proportion of births among them, and finally closes the
book by examining the means of checking the practice
of grossest immoralities under the name of individual

S-3

34 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

freedom and even humanity. He suggests organized
attempt to guide and regulate the public opinion and
advocates state interference but finally relies upon
quickening of the religious life. Moral bankruptcy
cannot be met or arrested by ordinary methods, most
certainly not when immorality is claimed as a virtue
and morality condemned as a weakness, superstition or
even immorality. For many advocates of contraceptives
do indeed condemn continence as unnecessary and even
harmful. In this state of things religious aid is the only
effective check upon licensed vice. Religion here may
not be taken in its narrow, parochial sense. True religion
is the greatest disturbing factor in life whether individual
or collective. A religious awakening constitutes a revolu-
tion, a transformation, a regeneration. And nothing Bht
some such dynamic force can positively prevent the
moral catastrophe towards which, in M. Bureau's estima-
tion, France seems to be moving.

But we must here leave the author and his book.
French conditions are not Indian conditions. Ours is a
somewhat different problem. Contraceptives are not
universal in India. Their use has hardly touched the
educated classes. The use of contraceptives in India is,
in my opinion, unwarranted by any single condition that
can be named. Do middle class parents suffer from too
many children ? Individual instances will not suffice to
make out a case for excessive birth-rate among the
middle classes. The cases in India where I have observed
the advocacy of these methods are those of widows and
young wives. Thus in the one case it is illegitimate birth
that is to be avoided, not the secret intercourse. In the
other it is again pregnancy that is to be feared, and not
the rape, of a girl of tender age. Then there remains
the class of diseased, weak, effeminate young men who
would indulge in excesses with their own wives or others 1
wives and would avoid the consequences of acts which
they know to be sinful. The cases of men or women in

'TOWARDS MORAL BANKRUPTCY' 35

full vigour of life desiring intercourse and yet wishing
to avoid the burden of children are, I make bold to say,
rare in this ocean of Indian humanity. Let them not parade
their cases to justify and advocate a practice that in India,
if it became general, is bound to ruin the youth of the
country. A highly artificial education has robbed the
nation's youth of physical and mental vigour. We are
offspring in many cases of child marriages. Our disre-
gard of the laws of health and sanitation has undermined
our bodies. Our wrong and deficient dietary composed
of corroding spices has produced a collapse of the dige-
stive apparatus. We need, not lessons in the use of
contraceptives and helps to our being able to satisfy
our animal appetite, but continuous lessons to restrain
that appetite, in many cases even to the extent of abso-
lute continence. We need to be taught by precept and
example that continence is perfectly possible and impe-
ratively necessary if we are not to remain mentally and
physically weak. We need to be told from the housetop
that if we will not be a nation of manikins, we must
conserve and add to the limited vital energy we are
daily dissipating. Our young widows need to be told not
to sin secretly but come out boldly and openly to demand
marriage which is their right as much as that of young
widowers. We need to cultivate public opinion that
shall make child marriages impossible. The vacillation,
and the disinclination to do hard and sustained work,
the physical inability to perform strenuous labours, colla-
pses of enterprises brilliantly begun, the want of origina-
lity, one notices so often, are due largely to excessive
indulgence. I hope young men do not deceive themselves
into the belief that when there is no procreation the
mere indulgence does not matter, does not weaken.
Indeed the sexual act, with the unnatural safeguard aga-
inst procreation, is likely to be far more exhausting than
such act performed with a full sense of the responsi-
bility attached to it.

11 The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven."

36 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

If we begin to believe that indulgence in animal
passion is necessary, harmless and sinless, we shall want
to give reins to it and shall be powerless to resist it.
Whereas' if we educate ourselves to believe that such
indulgence is harmful, sinful, unnecessary, and can be
controlled, we shall discover that self-restraint is perfectly
possible. Let us beware of the strong wine of libertinism
that the intoxicated West sends us under the guise of
new truth and so-called human freedom. Let us, on the
contrary, listen to the sober voice from the West, that
through the rich experience of its wise men at times
percolates to us, if indeed we have outgrown the ancient
wisdom of our forefathers.

Charlie Andrews has sent me an informing article*
on Generation and Regeneration written by William Loftus
Hare and published in The Open Court (March 1926). It
is a closely reasoned scientific essay. He shows that all
bodies perform two functions : ' viz., internal reproduction
for the building up of the body, and external reproduc-
tion for the continuance of the species. ' These processes
he names regeneration and generation respectively.
"The regenerative process internal reproduction is
fundamental for the individual and therefore necessary
and primary, the generative process is due to a super-
fluity of cells and is therefore secondary. . . . The
law of life, then, at this level is to feed the germ cells
firstly for regeneration and secondly for generation. In
case of deficiency, regeneration must take the first place
and generation be suspended. Thus we may learn
the origin of the suspension of reproduction and follow
it to its later phases of human continence and asceticism
generally. Inner reproduction can never be suspended
except at the cost of death, the normal origin of which
is thus also discerned. 11 After describing the biological
process of regeneration the writer states: "Among
civilized human beings sexual intercourse is practised
vastly more than is necessary for the production of the

* See Appendix I.

4 TOWARDS MORAL BANKRUPTCY' 37

next generation and is carried on at the expense of
internal reproduction, bringing disease, death and more
in its train. "

No one who knows anything of Hindu philosophy can
have difficulty in following this paragraph from Mr. Hare's
essay :

"The process of regeneration is not and cannot be
mechanistic in character, but like the primitive fission is
vitalistic. That is to say, it exhibits intelligence and will.
To suppose that life separates, differentiates and
segregates by a process that is purely mechanistic is
inconceivable. True, these fundamental processes are
so far removed from our present consciousness as to
seem to be uncontrolled by the human or animal will.
But a moment's reflection will show, that just as the will
of the fully developed human being directs his external
movements and actions in accordance with the guidance
of the intellect, this, indeed being its function, so the
earlier processes ot the gradual organization of the body
must, within the limits provided by environment, be
allowed to be directed by a kind of will guided by a kind
intelligence. This is now known to psychologists as ' the
unconscious '. It is a part of our self, disconnected from
our normal daily thinking, but intensely awake and alert
in regard to its own functions so much so that it never
for a moment subsides into sleep as the consciousness
does. 11

Who can measure the almost irreparable harm
done to the unconscious and more permanent part of
our being by the sexual act indulged in for its own
sake ? ' The nemesis of reproduction is death. The
sexual act is essentially katabolic (or a movement
towards death) in the male, and in parturition of
the offspring it is katabolic for the female.' Hence the
writer contends: " Virility, vitality and immunity
from disease are the normal lot of nearly or quite
continent persons." "Withdrawal of germ cells from
their upward regenerative course for generative or
merely indulgent purposes deprives the organs of their

38 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

replenishing stock of life, to their cost slowly and
ultimately. 11 " It is these physical facts which constitute
the basis of a personal sexual ethic, counselling
moderation, if not restraint at any rate, explaining the
origin of restraint. 11 The author, as can be easily
imagined, is opposed to birth control by chemical and
mechanical means. He says : "It removes all prudential
motives for self-restraint, and makes it possible for
sexual indulgence in marriage to be limited only by
the diminution of desire or the advance of old age.
Apart from this, however, it inevitably has an influence
outside the marriage relation. It opens the door for
irregular, promiscuous and unfruitful unions, which, from
the point of view of modern industry, sociology and
politics, are full of danger. I^cannot go into these here.
It is sufficient to say that by contraception, inordinate
sexual indulgence both in and out of marriage is
facilitated, and, if I am right in my foregoing physiolo-
gical arguments, evil must come to both individuals and
the race."

Let the Indian youth treasure in their hearts the
quotation with which M. Bureau's book ends :

"The future is for the nations who are chaste."

BIRTH CONTROL*

It is not without the greatest hesitation and reluctance
that I approach this subject. The question of using
artificial methods for birth control has been referred to
me by correspondents ever since my return to India.
Though I have answered them personally, I have never
hitherto dealt with the subject publicly. My attention was
drawn to the subject, now thirtyfive years ago, when I
was a student in England. There was then a hot contro-
versy raging between a purist who would not countenance
anything but natural means and a doctor who advocated
artificial means. It was at that early time in my life that
I became, after leanings for a brief period towards
artificial means, a convinced opponent of them. I now
observe that in some Hindi papers the methods are
described in a revoltingly open manner which shocks
one's sense of decency. I observe, too, that one writer
does not hesitate to cite my name as among the supporters
of artificial methods of birth control. I cannot recall a
single occasion when I spoke or wrote in favour of such
methods. I have seen also two distinguished names having
been used in support. I hesitate to publish them without
reference to their owners.

There can be no two opinions about the necessity, of
birth control. But the only method handed down from
ages past is self-control or brahmacharya. It is an infallible
sovereign remedy doing good to those who practise
it. And medical men will earn the gratitude of mankind,
if instead of devising artificial means of birth control
they will find: out the means of self-control. The union is
meant not for pleasure but for bringing forth progeny.
And union is a crime when the Jdesire for progeny is
absent .

Artificial methods are like 'putting a premium upon
vice. They make man and woman reckless. And

*Reprmted from Young /wcfta,' March 12, 1925

40 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

respectability that is being given to the methods must
hasten the dissolution of the restraints that public opinion
puts upon one. Adoption of artificial methods must result
in imbecility and nervous prostration. The remedy will
be found to be worse than the disease. It is wrong
and immoral to seek to escape the consequences of
one's acts. It is good for a person who over-eats to
have an ache and a fast. It is bad for him to indulge
his appetite and then escape the consequences by
taking tonics or other medicines. It is still worse for a
person to indulge his animal passions and escape the
consequences of his acts. Nature is relentless and will
have full revenge for any such violation of her laws^.
Moral results can only be produced by moral restraints.
All other restraints defeat the very purpose for which
they are intended. The reasoning underlying the use
of artificial methods is that indulgence is a necessity
of life. Nothing can be more fallacious. Let thoss
who are eager to see the births regulated explore
the lawful means devised by the ancients, and try to
find out how they can be revived. An enormous amount
of spade work lies in front of them. Early marriages are
a fruitful source of adding to the population. The present
mode of life has also a great deal to do with the evil
of unchecked procreation. If those causes are investigated
and dealt with, society will be morally elevated. If, they
are ignored by impatient zealots, and if artificial methods
become the order of the day, nothing but moral degra-
dation can be the result.

A society that has already become enervated through
a variety of causes will become still further enervated
by the adoption of artificial methods. Those men therefore
who are light-heartedly advocating artificial methods
cannot do better than study the subject afresh, stay their
injurious activity and popularize brahmacharya both for
the married and the unmarried. That is the only noble
and straight method of birth control.

3
SOME ARGUMENTS CONSIDERED* .

My article on birth control has, as was to be expect-
ed, given rise to energetic correspondence in favour
of artificial methods. I select three typical letters. There
is a fourth letter which is largely theological. I therefore
omit it. Here is one of the three letters :

" I have read your article on 4 birth control ' with great in-
terest. The subject is, at present, exercising the minds of many
educated men. Last year, we had long and heated debates.
They proved at least this much, that young men are acutely
interested in this problem, that there is a great deal of prudery
and prejudice about it, that in a free and open discussion one's
sense of ' decency ' is rarely shocked. Your article has set me
thinking afresh, and I appeal to you for some more light, to
dispel many doubts that arise in my mind.

"I agree that 'there can be no two opinions about the
necessity of birth control '. I further agree that ' brahmachatya
is an infallible sovereign remedy doing good to those who prac-
tise it ' But I ask whether the problem is not one of ' birth
control ' than of ' self -control '. If so, let us see if self-control is
a feasible method of birth control for the average person.

" I believe that this problem can be examined from two
different points of view, that oi the individual and that of society
It is the duty of each individaal to restrain his carnal passions,
ana thus evolve his spiritual strength At all times, there are a
few such persons, of great moral fibre, who set up this noble
standard before themselves, and will follow no other But I
wonder whether they have any perception of the problem of
birth control, which we are intent on solving. A sannyasi is out
for salvation, but not for birth control

" But can this method solve an economic, social, and political
question of the greatest importance to the vast majority of
people within a reasonable period of time ? It presses for solu-
tion on every thinking and prudent gnhastha even now. How many
children can one feed, clothe, educate, and settle in life is a
question which brooks no delay. Knowing human nature as you do,
can you reasonably expect large numbers completely to abstain
from sexual pleasure, after the need for progeny has been
satisfied ? But I believe you would permit a rational and temp-
erate exercise of the sexual instinct, as is recommended by our
smntikaras. The vast majority may be asked neither to indulge the

* Reprinted from Young India. April 2,1925

42 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

passion nor to repress it, but only to regulate it. But even if this
were possible, would this method control birth ? I believe that we
shall then have better people, but not fewer people. In fact, the
problem' of population would become more acute, as an efficient
population grows faster than an inefficient one. The art of cattle-
breeding does not give us fewer cattle, but more and better cattle
"I agree that 'union is meant not for pleasure, but for
bringing forth progeny '. But you must grant that pleasure is
the chief, if not the only, inducement to it. It is Nature's lure
to fulfil its purpose. How many would fulfil it, and do fulfil it,
where pleasure is lacking ? How many go for pleasure and get
progeny, and how many go for progeny and also find pleasure ?
You say that ' union is a crime, when the desire for progeny is
absent.' It beautifully suits a sannyasi like you to say so. For
have you not also said that he who owns more than he nee as
is a 'thief and 'robber 1 , that he who loves not others more
loves himself less ? But why be so hard on poor and weak
mortals ? To them, a little pleasure, without desire for progeny
would soothe and meet natural changes in body and mind The
fear of progeny would in several cases agitate nerves, and in
some cases delay marriage. The desire for progeny, in normal
cases, would cease after a few years of marriage Would union
after that be a crime ? Do you think that a man afraid of commit-
ting that ' crime ' would be morally superior by sitting tijht
over the safety valve of his restless passions ? After all, why
do you tolerate 'thieves' who hold more than they need,
but not the 'criminals' who unite after the desire for progeny
is satisfied ? Is it because ' thieves ' are too numerous and
powerful to reform ?

"Lastly, you allege that 'artificial methods are like putting
a premium upon vice. They mase man and woman reckless ' This
is a heavy charge, if true. I ask whether ' public opinion ' has
ever been strong enough to restrain sexual excess. I am aware
of drunkards being restrained by fear of such opinion. But I am
also aware of the sayings that ' God never sends mouths but
He sends meat also, ' and ' children are born because of God s
will, ' as well as of the prejudice that a large progeny is a
proof of manliness. I know cases where such opinion gives a
licence to husbands over wives, and considers the exercise
of the sex instinct as the main bond of maniage. Besides, is it
certain that ' adoption of artificial methods must result in imbeci-
lity and nervous prostration ? * There are methods, and methods,
and I believe that science has discovered, or will soon discover,
innocuous methods. This is not beyond the wit of man.

" But it seems that you would not allow their use in any

case, for 'it is wrong and immoral to seek to escape the con-

sequences of one's acts.' This is unexceptionable, * only you assume

SOME ARGUMENTS CONSIDERED 43

that even a moderate exercise of one's appetite, without desire"
for progeny, is immoral. Moreover 1 ask if any one is ever
restrained by the fear of progeny, the consequences of one's
acts. In any case, many are impelled to seek the' advice of
quacks, reckless of their health and happiness. How many
abortions have not "been caused while 'seeking to escape the
consequences of one's acts ' ? But, .even if ' fear proved an
effective restraint, the ' moral ' results would be poor indeed.
Besides, by what system of justice should the sins of parents
be visited upon the heads of their progeny and the imprudence
of individuals hurt society? It is true that 'Nature is relentless,
and will have full revenge for any such violation of her laws/
But why assume that the us a of artificial methods is such a
violation ? None calls the use oE artificial teeth, eyes and limbs
as 'unnatural'. That alone is unnatural which does not secure
our well-being. I do not believe that mankind is by nature
vicious, and that the use of these methods will make it worse.
There is enough of licence even now, not even India excepted
It is as easy to prove that this new power will be properly used
as that it may be abused. But let us recognize that man is on
the point of winning this tremendous power over Nature, and
that we can ignore it only at our cost. Wisdom lies in controlmg
it, not in shunning it. Some of the noblest workers seek the
propagation of these methods, not for indulgence, but to help
men to self-control

" Let us also not forget that woman and her needs have been
ignored too long She means to* have her say in this matter, for
she refuses to allow man to treat her body as 'tilth for offspring'.
The strain of modern civilization is too great to permit her to
rear a large family with all the drudgery and worry it means.
Dr. Marie Stopes and Miss Ellen Key would never seek the
' nervous prostration ' of woman The methods they suggest (San
be made effective chiefly by women, and are more likely to
evolve wise motherhood than reckless indulgence In any case
there are circumstances when a lesser evil may avoid a greater.
There are dangerous diseases which must be avoided even at
the cost of ' nervous prostration '. There are natural periods of
lactation when union is unavoidable but injurious if fruitful.
There are women, otherwise healthy, who can bear children
only at a serious risk to their lives

" I neither wish nor expect you to turn into a propagandist
of birth control You are at your best in keeping the light of
Truth and Chastity burning in its purity and holding it before
mortals who seek it. But a prudent parent will seek that light
more than an imprudent one. He who realizes the need of birth
control may easily evolve self control. The present licence,,

44 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

thoughtlessness and ignorance are so great that even you cry
as if in a wilderness. There is great need for more enlightened
discussion than your apologetic and 'reluctant' article permits.
If you cannot join in it you must at least recognize it, and if
need be, guide it betimes, for there are breakers ahead; and
it will serve no purpose to blink your eyes at the danger, and
hesitate on approaching this subject.' "

Let me clear the ground by saying that I have not
written for sannyasis or as a sannyasi. I do not claim to
be one in the accepted sense of the term. {My observa-
tions are based upon unbroken personal practice with
a slight aberration for a period of twentyfive years and
that of those who have joined me in the experiment for
a long enough period to warrant certain conclusions. In
the experiment both young and old men and women are
included; I claim a certain degree of scientific accuracy
for the experiment. It has undoubtedly a strictly moral
basis, but it originated in the desire for birth control. My
own case was peculiarly for that purpose. Tremendous
moral consequences developed as an afterthought though
in a perfectly natural sequence.Q venture to claim that by
judicious treatment it is possible to observe self-control
without much difficulty. Indeed it is a claim put forth
not merely by me but German and other Nature Cure
practitioners. The latter teach that water treatment or
earth compresses and a non-heating and chiefly fruita-
rian diet soothe the nervous system and bring animal
passions under easy subjection whilst they at the
same time invigorate the system. The same result
is claimed by rajayo&is for scientifically regulated
pranayama without reference to the higher practices.
Neither the western nor the ancient Indian treatment is
intended for the sannyasi but essentially for the house-
holder. If it is contended that birth control is necessary
for the nation because of over-population, I dispute the
proposition. It has never been proved. In my opinion,
by a proper land system, better agriculture and a
supplementary industry, this country is capable of sup-
porting twice as many people as there are in it today.
But I have joined hands with the advocates of. birth

SOME ARGUMENTS CONSIDERED 45

control in India from the standpoint of the present poli-
tical condition of the country.

I do suggest that men must cease to indulge their
animal passions after the need for progeny has ceased.
The remedy of self-control can be made popular and
effective. It has never had a trial with the educated
class. That class has not yet, thanks to the joint-family
system, felt the pressure. Those that have, have not given
a thought to the moral issues involved in the question.
Save for stray lectures on Brahmacharya no systematic
propaganda has been carried on for advocating self-
control for the definite purpose of limiting progeny. On
the contrary the superstition of a larger family being an
auspicious thing and therefore desirable still persists.
Religious teachers do not generally teach that restriction
of progeny in given circumstances is as much a religi-
ous obligation as procreation may be under certain
other circumstances.

I am afraid that advocates of birth control take it
for granted that indulgence in animal passion is a neces-
sity of life and in itself a desirable thing. The solicitude
shown for the fair sex is most pathetic, In my opinion
it is an insult to the fair sex to put up her case in
support of birth control by artificial methods. As it is.
man has sufficiently degraded her for his lust, and arti-
ficial methods, no matter how well-meaning the advo-
cates may be, will still .further degrade her. I know
that there are modern women who advocat^ these me-
thods. But I have little doubt that the vast majority of
women will reject them as inconsistent with their dignity.
If man means well by her, let him exercise control over
himself. It is not she who tempts. In reality man being
the aggressor is the real culprit and the tempter.

I urge the advocates of artificial methods to consider
the consequences. Any large use of the methods is
likely to result in the dissolution of the marriage bond
and in free love. If a man may indulge in animal passion
for the sake of it, what is. he to do whilst he is, say,
away from his home for any length of time, or when he

46 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

is engaged as a soldier in a protracted war, or when
he is widowed, or when his wife is too ill to permit him
the indulgence without injury to her health notwithstand-
ing the use of artificial method ?
But says another correspondent :

11 With respect to your article on birth control in a recent
issue, may I respectfully point out that you start by begging
the whole question when you assert that artificial methods are
injurious ? In the Contraceptive Section of the last International
Birth Control Conference ( London, 1 922 ) attended by members
of the medical profession only, the following resolution was
passed with 3 dissentients out of 1 64 present : ' That this meeting
of the medical members of the fifth International Birth Control
Conference wishes to point out that birth control by hygienic
contraceptive devices is absolutely distinct from abortion in its
physiological, legal and moral aspects. It further records its
opinion, that there is no evidence that the best contraceptive methods are
injurious to health or conducive to sterility '

" Now it seems to me that the opinion of such a large body
of medical men and women including some of the most eminent
names in the profession can hardly be set aside with a stroke
of the pen. You say :' Adoption of artificial method must lead
to imbecility and nervous prostration. 1 Why ' must ' ? I venture
to submit that modern scientific methods do not lead to anything
of the kind, though the use of harmful methods through ignor-
ance may. This is only one more argument why proper methods
should be taught to all who are likely to need them, i e , to all
adults capable of reproduction. You blame these methods tor
being artificial, and still want medical men to find out ' means
of self-control '. I do not quite understand what you mean, but
as you refer to medical men, would not any ' means of self-
control ' devised by them be equally artificial ? You say : ' Union
is meant not for pleasure, but for bringing forth progeny'.
Meant by whom ? By God ? In that case, what did he create the
sexual instinct for ? You further say : Nature is relentless and
will Jaave full revenge for any such violation of her laws. 1 But
nature at any rate is not a person as God is supposed to be,
and does not issue orders to anybody. It is not possible to
violate Nature's laws. The consequences of actions are inevitable
in Nature. Good and bad are words that we apply to them The
people who use artificial methods do take the consequences of
their acts like those who don't. Your argument, therefore, does
not mean anything unless you can prove that artificial methods
are injurious. I assert from observation and experiment that
they are not, provided proper methods are used. Actions must

SOME ARGUMENTS CONSIDERED 47

be judged moral or immoral according to their results and not
by a ^non assumptions as to their morality.

11 The method you propose was also advised by Malthus,
but is absolutely impracticable except for a few selected indivi-
duals like you. What is the use of advocating methods which
cannot be practised ? The benefits of Brahmacharaya have been
greatly exaggerated. Modern medical authorities ( I mean those
who have no religious prejudices ) think that it is positively
harmful beyond the age of 22 or so. It is religious prejudice which
makes you think that sexual union is a sin except for procreation
As nobody can guarantee the result beforehand, you condemn
everybody either to complete abstinence or to take the chance of
sinning. Physiology does not teach this, and it is now too late in
the day to ask people to ignore science in favour of dogma "

This writer has taken up an uncompromising
attitude. I hope I have given enough illustrations
to show that self-restraint and not indulgence must be
regarded as the law of life, if we are to accept and retain
the sanctity of the marriage tie. I have not begged the
question, for I do contend that artificial methods, however
proper they may be, are harmful. They are harmful not
perhaps in themselves but because they increase the
appetite which grows with every feed. Tha mind that
is so tuned as to regard indulgence not only lawful but
even desirable will simply feed itself on the indulgence,
and will at last become so weak as to lose all strength
of will. I do maintain that every act of indulgence means
loss of precious vitality so needful to keep a man or
woman strong in body, mind and soul. Though I have
now mentioned the soul, I have purposely eliminated it
from the discussion which is intended merely to combat
the arguments advanced by my correspondents who seem
to disregard its existence. The tuition that is needed for
much married and enervated India is not that of
indulgence with artificial means but complete restraint,
if only for the sake of regaining lost vitality. Let the
immoral medicines whose advertisements disfigure our
press be a warning to the advocates of birth control.
It is not prudery or false modesty which restrains me
from discussing the subject. The restraining force is the
certain knowledge that the devitalized and enervated

48 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

youth of the country fall an easy prey to the specious
arguments advanced in favour of indulgence.

It is perhaps now hardly necessary for me to combat
the medical certificate produced by the second corres-
pondent. It is wholly irrelevant to my case. I neither
affirm nor deny that proper artificial methods injure the
organs or produce sterility. No array, however brilliant,
of medical men can disprove the ruin which I have
witnessed of hundreds of youths who have indulged their
passions even though it may be with their own wives.

The analogy drawn by the first writer from false
teeth seems to me to be inapplicable. False teeth are
indeed artificial and unnatural, but they may serve a
necessary purpose; whereas artificial methods are like
antidotes taken by a man who wants to eat not for satis-
fying hunger but for pleasing the palate. Eating for the
sake of pleasure is a sin like animal indulgence for the
sake of it.

The last letter is interesting for the information
it gives:

11 The question is now vexing the Governments of the world.
I refer to your article on birth control '. You doubtless know the
antipathy o( the American Government towards its propagation.
You have no doubt also heard about the free sanction given
to it by an Eastern Power I mean the Empire of Japan. The
on:* rules out birth control altogether, whether as a result of
artificial means or natural ones, for reasons best known to every
one. The other sponsors it for reasons also universally known. In
my opinion, there is nothing to admire in the action of the first. Is
there much, however, to despise in the step of the second ?
Don't you think that the Japanese Government should be given
credit at least for facing facts ? They must stop procreation, they
must also take human nature at its present worth. Is not birth control,
as at present understood m the West, the only way out for them ?
You will say 'An emphatic No 1 . But. may I ask if the course you
suggest is practicable ? It may be very ideal, but is it practicable ? Can
humanity be expected to forego sexual pleasure to any very
appreciable degree ? It may be easy to find a glorious few who
practise self-control or Brahmacharya. Can this method be how-
ever depended upon for a mass movement in this direction ?
And nothing less than a mass movement is necessary in India
to meet the situation."

ON THE NECESSITY OF CONTINENCE 49

I must confess my ignorance of the facts about
America and Japan. Why Japan is advocating birth control
I do not know. If the writer's facts are correct and if
birth control by artificial methods is at all general in
Japan, I make bold to say that this fine nation is rushing
headlong to its moral ruin.

I maybe wholly wrong. My conclusions may be based
on false data. But the advocates of artificial methods have
need to be patient. They have no data at all except the
modern examples. Surely it is too early to predict any-
thing with any degree of certainty of a system of control
which on the face of it seems to be repugnant to the
moral sense of mankind. It is easy enough to trifle
with youthful nature. It will be difficult to undo the evil
effects of such trifling.

4
ON THE NECESSITY OF CONTINENCE*

I would request those who have carefully read
through the book so far to peruse this chapter with even
greater care, and ponder well over its subject matter.
There are still several more chapters to be written, and
they will, of course, be found useful in their own way.
But no other chapter is nearly as important as this. As
I have already said, there is not a single matter men-
tioned in this book which is not based on my personal
experience, or which I do not believe to be strictly true.

Many are the keys to health, and they are all quite
essential; but one thing needful, above all others, is
Brahmacharya. Pure ajir, pure water, and wholesome food
certainly contribute to health. But how can we be healthy if
we expend all the health that we acquire ? How can we help
being paupers if we spend all the money that we earn ?
There can be no doubt that men and women can never be
virile or strong unless they observe true Brahmacharya.

* Tiarislation of a chapter in the author's Gujarat, book oa health
(Part I, chapter IX).

50 SELF-RESTRAINT l>. SELF-INDULGENCE

What, then, is Brahmacharya ? It means that men and
women should refrain from carnal knowledge of each
other. That is to say, they should not touch each other
with a carnal thought, they should not think of it even
in their dreams. Their mutual glances should be free
from all suggestion of carnality. The hidden strength that
God has given us should be conserved by rigid self-dis-
cipline, and transmitted into energy and power, not
merely of body, but also of mind and soul.

But what is the spectacle that we actually see around
us ? Men and women, old and young, without exception,
are caught in the meshes of sensuality. Blinded for the
most part by lust, they lose all sense of right and wrong.
I have myself seen even boys and girls behaving as if
they were mad under its fatal influence. I too have
behaved likewise under similar influences, and it could
not well be otherwise. For the sake of a momentary
pleasure, we sacrifice in an instant all the stock of vital
energy that we have laboriously accumulated. The infa-
tuation over, we find ourselves in a miserable condition.
The next morning we feel hopelessly weak and tired,
and the mind refuses to do its work. Then in order to
remedy the mischief, we consume large quantities of
milk, bhasmas, yakutis and what not. We take all sorts of
'nervine tonics 1 and place ourselves at the doctor's
mercy for repairing the waste, and for recovering
the capacity for enjoyment. So the days pass and years,
until at length old age comes upon us, and finds us
utterly emasculated in body and in mind.

But the law of Natiire is just the reverse of this. The
older we grow, the keener should our intellect be; the
longer we live, the greater should be our capacity to
communicate the benefit of our accumulated experience
to our fellow-men. And such is indeed the case with those
who have been true Brahmacharis. They know no fear
of death, and they do not forget God even in thte hour
of death; nor do they indulge in vain desires. They die
with a smile on their lips, and boldly face the day of
judgment. They are true men and women; and of them

ON THE NECESSITY OF CONTINENCEf

alone can it be said that they have conserved their health.

We hardly realize the fact that incontinence is the
root cause of most of the vanity, anger, fear, and jealousy
in the world. If our mind is not under our control, if we
behave once or oftener every day more foolishly than
even little children, what sins may we not commit con-
sciously or unconsciously ? How can we pause to think
of the consequences of our actions, however vile or
sinful they may be ?

But you may ask, ' Who has ever seen a true Brahma-
chart in this sense ? If all men should turn Brahmacharis,
would not humanity be extinct and the whole world go
to rack and ruin ? ' We will leave aside the religious
aspect of this question and discuss it simply from the
secular point of view. To my mind, these questions only
betray our timidity and worse. We have not the strength
of will to observe Brahmacharya, and therefore set
about finding pretexts for evading our duty. The race
of true Brahmachans is by no means extinct; but if they
were commonly to be met with, of what value would
Brahmacharya be ? Thousands of hardy labourers have
to go and dig deep into the bowels of the earth in
search of diamonds, and at length they get perhaps
merely a handful of them out of heaps and heaps of rock.
How much greater, then, should be the labour involved
in the discovery of the infinitely more precious diamond

of a Brahmachan ? If the observance of Brahmacharya

should mean the end of the world, that is none of our
business. Are we God that we should be so anxious
about its future? He who created it will surely see to
its preservation. We need not trouble to enquire whether
other people practise Brahmacharya or not. When we
enter a trade or profession, do we ever pause to
consider what the fate of the world would be if all men
were to do likewise? The true Brahmachan will, in the
long run, discover for himself answers to such questions.
But how can men engrossed in the cares of the
material world put these ideas into practice ? What
about those who are married? What shall they do

52 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

who have children ? And what shall be done by those
people who cannot control themselves ? We have already
seen what is the highest state for us to attain. We should
keep this ideal constantly before us, and try to approach
it to the utmost of our capacity. When little children are
taught to write the letters of the alphabet, we show
them the perfect shapes of the letters, and they try to
reproduce them as best they can. In the same way, if
we steadily work up to the ideal of Brahmachary i we
may ultimately succeed in realizing it. What if we have
married already ? The law of Nature is that Brahmz-
charya may be broken only when the husband and wife
feel a desire for progeny. Those, who, remembering
this law, violate Brahmacliarya once in four or fiye years,
will not become slaves to lust, nor lose much of their
stock of vital energy. But, alas ! how rare are those men
and women who yield to the sexual craving merely for
the sake of offspring ! The vast majority turn to sexual
enjoyment merely to satisfy their carnal passion, with
the result that children are born to them quite against
their will. In the madness of sexual passion, they give
no thought to the consequences of their acts. In this
respect, men are even more to blame than women. The
man is blinded so much by his lust that he never cares
to remember that his wife is weak and unable to bear
or rear up a child. In the West, indeed, people have
transgressed all bounds. They indulge in sexual
pleasures, and devise measures in order to evade the
responsibilities of parenthood. Many books have been
written on this subject, and a regular trade is being
carried on in contraceptives. We are as yet free from
this sin, but we do not shrink from imposing the heavy
burden of maternity on our women, and we are not
concerned even to find that our children are weak,
impotent and imbecile. Every time we get a child, we
offer thanksgiving prayers to God and so seek to hide
from ourselves the wickedness of our acts. Should we
not rather deem it a sign of the wrath of God to have
children who are feeble, sensual, crippled and timid ?

ON THE NECESSITY OF CONTINENCE 53

Is it a matter for joy that mere boys and girls should
have children ? Is it not rather a curse ? We all know
that the premature fruit of a too young plant weakens
the parent, and so we try all means of delaying the
appearance of fruit. But we sing hymns of praise and
thanksgiving to God when a child is born of a boy father
and a girl mother ! Could anything be more dreadful ? Do
we think that the world is going to be saved by the
countless swarms of such impotent children endlessly
multiplying in India or elsewhere ? Verily, we are, in
this respect, far worse than even the lower animals ; for
in their case tfce male and the female are brought
together solely with the object of breeding from them.
Man and woman should regard it a sacred duty to keep
apart from the moment of conception up to the time
when the child is weaned. But we go on with our fatal
merry-making blissfully forgetful of that sacred obli-
gation. This almost incurable disease enfeebles our
mind and leads us to an early grave, after making us
drag a miserable existence for a short while. Married
people should understand the true function of marriage,
and should not violate Brahmacharya except with a view
to progeny.

But this is so difficult under our present conditions
of life. Our diet, our ways of life, our common talk, and
our environments are all equally calculated to rouse
animal passions; and sensuality is like a poison eating
into our vitals. Some people may doubt the possibility
of our being able to free ourselves from this bondage.
This book is written not for those who go about with
such doubting of heart, but only for those who are really
in earnest, and who have the courage to take active
steps for self-improvement. Those who are quite content
with their present abject condition will find this tedious
even to read; but I hope it will be of some service to
those who have realized and are disgusted with their
own miserable plight.

From all that has been said, it follows that those
who are still unmarried should try to remain so; but if

54 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

they cannot help marrying, they should defer it as long
as possible. Young men, for instance, should take a vow
to remain unmarried till the age of twentyfive or thirty.
We cannot consider here all the advantages other than
physical which 4hey will reap and which are as it were
added unto the rest.

My request to those parents who read this chapter
is that they should not tie a mill-stone round the necks
of their children by marrying them young. They should
look to the welfare of the rising generation, and not
merely seek to pamper their own vanity. They should
cast aside all silly notions of family prjfle or respecta-
bility, and cease to indulge in such heartless practices.
Let them rather, if they are true well-wishers of their
children, look to their physical, mental and moral
improvement. What greater disservice can they do to
their progeny than compel them to enter upon married
life, with all its tremendous responsibilities and cares,
while they are mere children ?

Then again the true laws of health demand that the
man who loses his wife, as well as the woman that loses
her husband, should remain single ever after. There
is a difference of opinion among medical men an to
whether young men and women need ever let their
vital energy escape, some answering the question
in the affirmative, others in the negative. But while
doctors thus disagree we must not give way to over-
indulgence from an idea that we are supported by
medical authority. I can affirm, without the slightest
hesitation, from my own experience as well as that of
others, that sexual enjoyment is not only not necessary
for, but is positively injurious to health. All the strength
of body and mind that has taken long to acquire is lost
all at once by a single dissipation of the vital energy.
It takes a long time to regain this lost vitality, and
even then there is no saying that it can be thoroughly
recovered. A broken mirror may be mended and
made to do its work, but it can never be anything but
a broken mirror.

ON THE NECESSITY OF CONTINENCE 55

As has already been pointed out, the preservation
of our vitality is impossible without pure air, pure water,
pure and wholesome food, as well as pure .thoughts.
So vital indeed is the relation between health and
morals that we can never be perfectly healthy unless we
lead a clean life. The earnest man, who, forgetting the
errors of the past, begins to live a life of purity, will
be able to reap the fruit of it straightaway. Those who
practise true Brahmacharya even for a short period will
see how their body and mind improve steadily in strength
and power, and they will not at any cost be willing to
part with this treasure. I have myself been guilty of
lapses even after having fully understood the value of
Brahmacharya, and have of course paid dearly for it. I
am filled with shame and remorse when I think of the
terrible contrast between my condition before and after
these lapses. But from the errors of the past I have now
learnt to preserve this treasure intact, and I fully hope,
with God's ^grace, to continue to preserve it in the
future; for I have, in my own person, experienced the
inestimable benefits of Brahmacharya. I was married
early, and had become the father of children as a mere
youth. When, at length, I awoke to the reality of my
situation, I found that I was steeped in ignorance about
the fundamental .laws of our being. I shall consider
myself amply rewarded for writing this chapter if at
least a single reader takes a warning from my failings
and experiences, and profits thereby. Many people
have told me and I also believe it that I am full of
energy and enthusiasm, and that I am by no means
weak in mind; some even accuse me of strength border-
ing on obstinacy. Nevertheless there is still bodily and
mental ill health as a legacy of the past. And yet,
when compared with my friends, I may call myself
healthy and strong. If even after twenty years of sensual
enjoyment, I have been able to reach this state, how
much better off should I have been if I had kept myself
pure during those twenty years as well ? It is my
full conviction, that if only I had lived a life of unbroken

56 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

Brahmacharya all through, my energy and enthusiasm
would have been a thousandfold greater and I should
have been able to devote them all to the furtherance of my
country's cause as my own. If an imperfect Brahmachan
like myself can reap such benefit, how much more wonder-
ful must be the gain in power, physical, mental, as well
as moral, that unbroken Brahmacharya can bring to us !

When SO Strict is the law of Brahmacharya What
shall we say of those guilty of the unpardonable sin of
illegitimate sexual enjoyment? The evil arising from
adultery and prostitution is a vital question of religion
and morality and cannot be fully dealt with in a treatise
on health. Here we are only concerned to point out how
thousands who are guilty of these sins are afflicted by
venereal diseases. God is merciful in this that the
punishment swiftly overtakes sinners. Their short span
of life is spent in abject bondage to quacks in a futile
quest after a remedy for their ills. If adultery and prosti-
tution disappeared, at least half the present number
of doctors would find their occupation gone. So inex-
tricably indeed has venereal disease caught mankind in
its clutches that thoughtful medical men have been
forced to admit, that so long as adultery and prostitution
continue, there is no hope for the human race, all the
discoveries of curative medicine notwithstanding. The
medicines for these diseases are so poisonous that
although they may appear to have done some good for
the time being, they give rise to other and still more
terrible diseases which are transmitted from generation
to generation.

In concluding this chapter which has grown longer
than I expected, let me briefly point out how married
people can observe Brahmacharya. It is not enough to
observe the laws of health as regards air, water and
food. The husband should avoid privacy with his wife.
Little reflection is needed to show that the only possible
motive for privacy between husband and wife is the
desire for sexual enjoyment. They should occupy sepa-
rate rooms at night, and be constantly engaged in good

SELF-CONTROL 57

work during the day. They should read such books as
fill them with noble thoughts and meditate over the
lives of great men, and live in the constant realization
of the fact that sensual enjoyment is the root of much
misery. Whenever they feel a craving for sexual indul-
gence, they should bathe in cold water, so that the heat
of passion may be cooled down, and be refined into
the energy of virtuous activity. This is a difficult thing
to do, but we have been born to wrestle with difficul-
ties and conquer them; and he who has not the will to do
so can never enjoy the supreme blessing of true health.

5
SELF-CONTROL*

I have been asked to say a few words about
Brahmackarya. There are some subjects which I occa-
sionally discuss in the pages of N tvaiwn* but which I
rarely deal with in my speeches. Brahmacharya is one
of these. I hardly ever speak about it, as ^ I know that
it cannot be explained by words and is a 'very difficult
subject. You wish me to speak about Brahmacharya in
the general restricted acceptance of the term, not about
Brahmacharya with the wider significance of control of
all the senses. Even the observance of Brahmacharya*
as ordinarily understood is described in the Shastras
as a hard task. This is true in the main, but I may be
permitted to make a few observations which point the
other way. Brahmacharya appears to be difficult because
we do not control the other senses. Take for example
the organ of taste which leads the rest. Brahmacharya
will come easy to anyone who controls his palate. Zoolo-
gists tell us that Brahmacharya is observed by the
lower animals, as for instance cattle, to a greater
extent than by human beings, and this is a fact. The
reason is that cattle have perfect control over the palate,

* Translation by V. G. Desai of a Gujarati speech before the
Seva Samaj, Bhadran, reported in Navajivan, 26th February, 1925.

58 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

not by will but by instinct, They subsist on mere fodder,
and of this too, they take a quantity just sufficient for
nutrition. They eat to live, do not live to eat, while our
case is just the reverse. The mother pampers her child
with all kinds of delicacies. She believes that she can
evince her love only by feeding the child to the utmost.
By doing this she does not enhance the child's enjoy-
ment of his food, but on the other hand makes every-
thing insipid and disgusting for him. The taste depends
upon hunger. Even sweets will not be as tasteful to one
who is not hungry as a slice of dry bread is to another
who is really so. We prepare food in various ways
with a variety of spices in order to be able to load the
stomach, and wonder when we find Brahmacharyx
difficult to observe.

We misuse and corrupt the eyes which God has
given us and do not direct them to the right things.
Why should not the mother learn Gayatn and teach it
to the child? She need not trouble with the inner and
deeper meaning of the mantra. It is enough for her to
understand and explain to the child that it inculcates
reverence for the sun. This is but a rough interpretation
of the mantra which I am placing before you. How shall
we revere the sun? By looking up to the sun and
performing an ablution as it were of the eyes. The
author of the Gayatn was a Rishi> a seer. He taught us
that nowhere else can we see such a beautiful drama
as is daily staged before our eyes at the time of sunrise.
There is no stage-manager greater than God or more
sublime, and there is no more magnificent stage than
the sky. But where is the mother who washes her child's
eyes and then asks him to have a look at the sky ?
Mothers in our country are unfortunately concerned
with quite other things. The boy may perhaps turn out
to be a big official, thanks to his education at school,
but we are apt to ignore the very large part which the
Home atmosphere plays in his education. Parents
wrap their children up in heavy clothing and smother
them while they fondly imagine that they are adding to

SELF-CONTROL 59

their beauty. Clothes are meant just to cover the body,
protect it against heat and cold, not to beautify it. If
a child is trembling with cold, we must send him to the
fireside to warm himself or out into the street for a
run, or into the field for work. It is only thus that we
can help him to build a splendid constitution. By
keeping the child confined in the house we impart
a false warmth to his body. By pampering his body we
only succeed in destroying it.

So much for the clothes. Then again, the light
conversation carried on in the house creates a very
harmful impression on the child's mind. Elders talk of
getting him married. The things which he sees around
him also tend to corrupt him. The wonder is that we
have not sunk to the lowest depths of barbarism.
Restraint is observed in spite of conditions which render
it well-nigh impossible. A gracious Providence has so
arranged things that man is saved in spite of himself. If
we remove all these obstacles in the way of Brahmazharya,
it not only becomes possible but also easy to observe.

We are thus weak and yet we have to compete
with a world of men physically stronger than ourselves.
There are two ways of doing this : the one godly,
and the other satanic. The satanic way is to adopt all
measures right or wrong for developing the body,
such as beef-eating etc. A friend of my childhood used
to say that we must take meat, and that otherwise we
could not develop our physique so as to meet the
English on equal terms. Beef-eating became the vogue
in Japan when the time came for her to face other
nations. We must follow in her wake if we wish to
build our bodies in the satanic way.

But if we build up our bodies in the godly way,
the only means at our disposal is Brahmacharya. I pity
myself when people call me a niishthika Brahmachari.
How could such description apply to one who, like me,
is married and has children ? A naishthika Brahmichari
would never suffer from fever, headache, cough or
appendicitis, as I have suffered. Medical men say that

60 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

appendicitis is caused even by an orange-seed remain-
ing in the intestines. But an orange-seed cannot find
permanent lodgment in a clean healthy body. When
the intestines get weakened they are unable to expel
such foreign matter. My intestines too must have
weakened and hence the inception of appendicitis in
me. Children eat all manner of things and the mother
can never watch them all the time. Yet they do not
suffer as their intestines are functioning vigorously. Let
no one therefore mistake me for a n^i^hthk.i Brahmu-
chan, who should be made of infinitely sterner stuff. I
am not an ideal Brahmachan although I aspire to be one.

Brahmacharya does not mean that one may not
touch a woman, even one's sister, in any circumstance
whatsoever. But it does mean that one's state of mind
should be as calm and unruffled during such contact
as when one touches, say, a piece of paper. A man's
Btahmacharya avails for nothing if he must hesitate in
nursing his sister who is ill. He has to be as free from
excitement in case of contact with the fairest damsel on
earth as in contact with a dead body. If you wish your
children to attain such Brahmacharya, the framing of
their curriculum must not rest with you but with a
Bnilnnachari like myself, imperfect as I am.

A Brahmachan is a Sannvasi by nature. Brahmachar-
yashram is superior to Sannvu ti, but we have thoroughly
degraded it, and hence the degradation of Gnhasthash-am
as well as Vanaprastkashrum, and the disappearance of
Sann-jasa Such is our sorry plight.

If we take to the satanic way I have described, we
will not be able to face the Pathans even after five
hundred years. But if we take to the godly way we can
meet them this very day. For, the change of mental
attitude necessary in following the latter can take place
in a moment, while building up the body to the
required standard would take ages. The nation, God
willing, can follow the godly way if only the parents
prepare an atmosphere favourable to the observance
of Brahmacharya on the part of the rising generation.

6
BJRAH.V1 ACHA R YA*

It is not easy to write on this .subject. But my own
experience being fairly extensive I am always desirous
of placing some of its results before the reader, ^ome
letters which I have received have reinforced this desire.

A correspondent asks :

"What is B.^knichurya ? Is it possible to observe it in its
perfection 9 If yes, have you attained that state?"

" Brahtna^iujya properly and fully understood means
search after Brahma. As Brahma is present in every one
of us, we must seek for it within with the help of medi-
tation and consequent realization. Realization is impos-
sible without complete control of all the senses. There-
fore Brahmacharyci signifies control of all the senses at
all times and at all places in thought, word and deed.

Perfect BrahuiUuuis, men or women, are perfectly
sinless. They are therefore near to God. They are
like God.

I have no doubt that such perfect observance of
Brahmacharya is possible. I regret to say that I have
not attained such perfection, although my effort in that
direction is ceaseless and I have not given up hope of
attaining it in this very life.

I am on my guard when awake. I have acquired
control over the body. I am also fairly restrained in
speech. But as regards thoughts there still remains
much for me to do. When I wish to concentrate my
thoughts upon a particular subject, I am disturbed by
other thoughts too and thus there is a conflict between
them. Yet during waking hours I am able to prevent
their collision, 1 may be said to have reached a state
where 1 am free from unclean thoughts. But I cannot
exercise an equal control over my thoughts in sleep.
In sleep all manner of thoughts enter my mind, and I

^Translation by Valji Govmdji Desai o an article in Naiajivan,
25th May, 1924.

62 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

also dream unexpected dreams. Sometimes there arises
a craving for pleasures previously enjoyed. When these
cravings are impure there are bad dreams. This
condition implies sinful life.

My thoughts of sin are scotched but not killed. If
I had acquired perfect mastery over my thoughts, I
should not have suffered from pleurisy, dysentery and
appendicitis as I have during the last ten years. I
believe that when the soul is sinless, the body which
she inhabits is healthy too. That is to say, as the soul
progresses towards freedom from sin, the body also
tends to become immune from disease. But a healthy
body in this case does not mean a strong body. A
powerful soul lives only in a weak body. As the soul
advances in strength the body languishes. A perfectly
healthy body might yet be quite emaciated. A strong
body is often diseased. Even if there be no disease,
such a body catches infection soon, while a perfectly
healthy body enjoys complete immunity from it. Pure
blood has the power of expelling all obnoxious germs.

This wonderful state is indeed difficult to reach. Or
else I should have reached it already, for I am confident
that I have not been indifferent in adopting every
single measure conducing to that end. There is no
external thing which can keep me from my goal, but
it is not given us easily to wipe out the -impressions
left by past actions. I am not at all despondent in spite
of this delay, for I can conceive the state of perfect
freedom from sin, I can even catch a faint glimpse of
it. And the progress I have made gives ground for
hope, not for despair. Even if I die without realizing
my aspiration, I shall not believe that I am defeated.
For I believe in a future life as strongly as I do in the
present. And so I know that the least possible effort is not
wasted.

I have entered into these autobiographical details in
order that my correspondents and others in a like con-
dition might feel encouraged and cultivate self-confidence.
Atma is the same in every one of us. All souls possess

BRAHMACHARYA 63

equal potentialities; only some have developed their
powers while others have them in a dormant condition.
These latter too will have a like experience, if only
they try.

Thus far I have dealt with Brahmacharya in its wider
significance, Brahmacharya in the popular or current
acceptance of the term means control of animal passion
in thought, word and deed. This meaning is also correct
as the control of passion has been held to be very diffi-
cult. The same stress has not been laid upon the control
of the palate, and hence the control of passion has grown
more difficult and almost impossible. Medical men believe
that passion is stronger in a body worn out by disease,
and therefore Brahmacharya appears hard to our
enervated people.

I have spoken above of a weak but healthy body.
Let no one therefore run away with the idea that we
should neglect physical culture. I have expounded the
highest form of Brahmacharya in my broken language
which may perhaps be misunderstood. One who wishes
to attain perfect control of all the senses must be pre-
pared in the end to welcome weakness of body. All
desire for bodily strength vanishes when there is no
longer any attachment for the body.

But the body of a Brahmachari who has conquered
animal passion must be very strong and full of lustre.
Even this restricted Brahmacharya is a wonderful thing.
One who is free from carnal thoughts even in his dreams
is worthy of the world's adoration. It is clear that control
of the other senses is an easy thing for him.

Another friend writes :

" My condition is pitiable. Tne same vicious thoughts disturb
me day and night, in the office, on the road, when I am reading
or working or even praying. How am I to control my thoughts ?
How can I look upon womankind as upon my own mother ? How
can nothing but the purest affection emanate from the eyes?
How can I eradicate wicked thoughts ? I have your article on
Brahmacharya before me, but it seems I cannot profit by it at all.*'

This is indeed heart-rending. Many of us are in a
like predicament. But so long as the mind is up against

64 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

wicked thoughts there is no reason to get disheartened.
The eyes should be closed and the ears stopped with
cotton, if they are sinning. It is a good practice to walk
with the eyes cast downwards so that there is no occa-
sion for them to wander in other directions. One should
flee from the place where unclean talk is going on or
where unclean music is being sung.

Control should be acquired over the organ of taste.
My experience is that one who has not mastered taste
cannot control animal passion either. It is no -easy task
to conquer the palate. But conquest of passion is bound
up with the conquest of the palate. One of the means
of controlling tasts is to give up spices and condiments
altogether .or as far as possible. Another and a more
effective means is always to cultivate a feeling that we
eat just in order to sustain the body and never for taste.
We take in air not for taste but for life. Just as we take
water to quench our thirst, in the same way should we
take food only to satisfy hunger. Unfortunately parents
make us contract a contrary habit from very childhood.
They corrupt us by giving us all manner of delicacies
not for our sustenance but out of mistaken affection. We
have got to fight against this unfavourable home
atmosphere.

But our most powerful ally in conquering animal
passion is Ramanama or some similar mantra. The
Dwadisha mantra will also serve the same purpose.
One may repeat any mmtra one pleases. I have sug-
gested Ramanama as I have been familiar with it since
childhood and as it is my constant support in my
struggles. One must be completely absorbed in whatever
mant>a one selects. One should not mind if other
thoughts disturb one during the japj I am confident
that one who still goes on with the japa in faith will
conquer in the end. The mantra becomes one's staff
of life and carries one through every ordeal. One
should not seek worldly profit from such sacred mantras.
The characteristic power of these mantras lies in their
standing guard over personal purity, and every diligent

TRUTH V. BRAHMACHARYA 65

seeker will realize this at once. It should, however, be
* remembered that the mantra is not to bet repeated
parrotlike, One should pour one's soul into it. The parrot
repeats such mantras mechanically; we must repeat
them intelligently in the hope of driving out undesirable
thoughts and with full faith in the power of the mantras
to assist us to do so.

7

TRUTH v . BRAHMACHARYA*
A friend writes to Mahadev Desai :

"You will remember that in an article on Brahmacharya
published in Navajivan some time ago, translated in Young, India
by you, Gandhiji admitted that he still had bad dreams. The
moment I read it I felt that such admissions could have no whole*
some effect and I came to know later that my fear was justified.

11 During our sojourn in England my friends and I kept our
character unscathed in spite of temptations. We remained
absolutely* free from wine, woman and meat. But on reading
Gandhiji's article one of the friends exclaimed to me in despair :
If such is the case with Gandhiji even after his herculean
efforts, where are we ? It is useless . to attempt to observe
Brahmacharya. Gandhiji's confession has entirely changed my
point of view. Take me to be lost from today.' Not without some
hesitation I tried to reason with him, If the way is so difficult
for men like Gandhiji, it is much more so for us, and we should
therefore redouble our effort; ' the way Gandhiji or you would
argue. But it was all in vain. A character that had been spotless so
l6ng was thus bespattered with mire. What would Gandhiji or you
say, if someone were to hold Gandhiji responsible for this fall ?

"As long as 1 had only one such instance in mind, 1 did not
write to you. You would possibly have put me off by saying that]
it was an exceptional case. But there were more such instances,
and my fear has been more than justified.

I know that there are certain things which are quite easy
for Gandhiji to achieve, and which are impossible for me. But
by the grace of God, L can say that something which may'be
impossible for even Gandhiji may be possible for me. It is this
consciousness or pride that has saved me from a fall, though
the admission above-mentioned has completely disturbed my
sense of security.

"Reprinted from Young India, February 28, 1926.

66 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

" Will you please invite Gandhiji's attention to this fact, espe-
cially when he is just in the midst of his autobiography? It is
certainly brave to say the truth and the naked truth, but the
world and the readers of Navajivan and Young India will
misunderstand him. I fear that one man's food may be another
man's poison. "

The complaint does not come to me as a surprise.
When non-cooperation was in full swing, and when during
the course of the struggle I confessed to an error of
judgment, a friend innocently wrote to me : " Even if it
was an error, you ought not to have confessed it. People
ought to be encouraged to believe that there is at least
one man who is infallible. You used to be looked upon
as such. Your confession will now dishearten them. "
This made me smile and also made me sad. I smiled at
the correspondent's simpleness. But the very thought of
encouraging people to believe a fallible man to be in-
fallible was more than I could bear. A knowledge of
one as one is, can always do good to the people, never
any harm. I firmly believe that my prompt confessions of
my errors have been all to the good for them. For me
at any rate they have been a blessing.

And I may say the same thing of my admission about
the bad dreams. It would do the world a great deal of
harm, if I claimed to be a perfect Brahmachan without
being one. For it would sully Brahmacharya and dim
the lustre of truth. How dare I undervalue Brahmacharya
by false pretences ? I can see today that the means I
suggest for the observance of Brahmacharya are' not
adequate, are not found to be invariably efficacious,
because I am not a perfect Brahmachari. It would be an
awful thing for the world to be allowed to believe that
I was a perfect Brahmachan whilst I could not show the
royal road to Brahmacharya.

Why should it not be sufficient for the world to know
that I am a genuine seeker, that I am wide awake,
and that my striving is ceaseless and unbending? Why
should not this knowledge be sufficient encouragement
to others ? It is wrong to deduce conclusions from false
premises. It is wisest to draw them from things achieved.

TRUTH X>. BRAHMACHARYA 67

Why argue that, because a man like me could not escape
unclean thoughts, there is no hope for the rest? Why
not rather argue that, if a 'Gandhi, who was once given
to lust, can today live as friend and brother to his
wife and can look upon the fairest damsel as his
sister or daughter, there is hope for the lowliest
and the lost? If God was merciful to one who was
so full of lust, certainly all the rest would have His
mercy too.

The friends of the correspondent who were put back
because of a knowledge of my imperfections had never
gone forward at all. It was a false virtue that fell at the
first blast. The truth and observance of Brahmachary.i
and similar eternal principles do not depend on persons
imperfect as myself. They rest on the sure foundations
of the penance of the many who strove for them and
live them in their fulness. When I have the fitness to
stand alongside those perfect beings, there will be much
more determination and force in my language than today.
He whose thoughts do not wander and think evil, whose
sleep knows no dreams and who can be wide awake
even whilst asleep, is truly healthy. He does not need
to take quinine. His incorruptible blood will have the
inherent virtue of resisting all infection. It is for such a
perfectly healthy state of body, mind and spirit that I am
striving. This knows no defeat or failure. I invite the
correspondent, his friends of little faith,- and others to
join me in that striving, and I wish that they may go
forward even like the correspondent quicker than I. Let
my example inspire those who are behind me with more
confidence. All that I have achieved has been in spite
of my weakness, in spite of my liability to passion, and
because of my ceaseless striving and infinite faith in
God's grace.

No one need therefore despair. My Mahatmaship is
worthless. It is due to my outward activities, due to my
politics which is the least part of me and is therefore
evanescent. What is of abiding worth is my insistence
-on truth, non-violence and Brahmachatw* which is the

68 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

real part of me. That permanent part of me, however
small, is not to be despised. It is my all. I prize even
the failures and disillusionments which are but steps
towards success.

8
PURITY*

I am being inundated with letters on Brahmacharya
and means to its attainment. Let me repeat in different
language what I have already said or written on previous
occasions. Brahmacharya is not mere mechanical celibacy,
it means complete control over all the senses, and free-
dom from lust in thought, word and deed. As such it is
the royal road to self-realization or attainment of Brahma.

The ideal Brahmachan has not to struggle with sen-
sual deske or desire for procreation; it never troubles
him at all. The whole world will be to him one vast
family, he will centre all his ambition in relieving the
misery of mankind, and the desire for procreation will
be to him as gall and wormwood. He who has realized
the misery of mankind in all its magnitude will neve!r be
stirred by passion. He will instinctively know the fountain
of strength in him, and he will ever persevere to keep
it undefiled. His humble strength will command respect
of the world, and he will wield an influence greater than
that of the sceptred monarch.

But I am told that this is an impossible ideal, that I
do not take count of the natural attraction between man
and woman. I refuse to believe that the sensual affinity,
referred to here, can be at all regarded as natural; in
that case the deluge would soon be over us. The natural
affinity between man and woman is the attraction between
brother and sister, mother and son, or father and
daughter. It is this natural attraction that sustains the
world. I should find it impossible to live, much less carry

* Reprinted from Young India, April 29, 1926. It then appeared
under the caption ' On Brahmacharya '.

PURITY 69

on my work, if I did not regard the whole of womankind
as sisters, daughters or mothers. If I looked at them
with lustful eyes, it would be the surest way to perdition.

Procreation is a natural phenomenon indeed, but
within specific limits. A transgression of those limits
imperils womankind, emasculates the race, induces
disease, puts a premium on vice, and makes the world
ungodly. A man in the grip of the sensual desire is a
man without moorings. If such a one were to guide
society, to flood it with his writings, and men were to
be swayed by them, where would society be ? And yet
we have that very thing happening today. Supposing a
moth whirling round a light were to record the moments
of its fleeting joy and we were to imitate it, regarding
it as an example, where would we be? No, I must
declare with all the power I can command that sensual
attraction even between husband and wife is unnatural.
Marriage is meant to cleanse the hearts of the couple
of sordid passion and take them nearer to God. Lustless
love between husband and wife is not impossible.
Man is not a brute. He had risen to a higher state after
countless births in the brute creation. He is born to
stand, not to walk on all fours or crawl. Bestiality is as
far removed from manhood as matter from spirit.

In conclusion I shall summarize the means to its
attainment.

The first step is the realization of its necessity.

The next is gradual control of the senses. A Brahma-
chan must needs control his palate. He must eat to live,
and not for enjoyment. He must see only clean things
and close his eyes before anything unclean. It is thus
a sign of polite breeding to walk with one's eyes towards
the ground and not wandering about from object to
object. A Brahmackan will likewise hear nothing obscene
or unclean, smell no strong, stimulating thing. The smell
of clean earth is far sweeter than the fragrance of artificial
scents and essences. Let the aspirant to Brahmacharya
also keep his hands and feet engaged in all the waking
hours in healthful activity. Let him also fast occasionally.

70 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

The third step is to have clean companions, clean
friends and clean books.

The last and not the least is prayer. Let him repeat
Ramanama with all his heart regularly every day, and
ask for divine grace.

None of these things is difficult for an average man
or woman. They are simplicity itself. But their very
simplicity is embarrassing. Where there is a will, the
way is simple enough. Men have not the will for it and
hence vainly grope. The fact that the world rests on
the observance, more or less, of Brahmacharya or res-
traint, means that it is necessary and practicable.

9
IN CONFIDENCE*

I receive so many letters questioning me regarding
celibacy and I hold such strong views upon it, that I
may no longer, especially at this the most critical period
of national life, withhold my views and results of my
experience from the reader of Young India.

The word in Sanskrit corresponding to celibacy is
Brahmacharya, and the latter means much more than
celibacy. Brahmacharya means perfect control over all the
senses and organs. For the perfect Brahmachan nothing
is impossible. But it is an ideal state which is rarely
realized. It is almost like Euclid's line which exists only
in imagination, never capable of being physically drawn.
It is nevertheless an important definition in geometry
yielding great result. So may a perfect Brahmachan exist
only in imagination. But if we did not keep him cons-
tantly before our mind's eye, we should be like a
rudderless ship. The nearer the approach to the imaginary
state, the greater the perfection.

But for the time being I propose to confine myself
to Brahmacharya as in the sense of celibacy. I hold that a
life of perfect continence in thought, speech and action is

*Reprinted from Young India, October 13, 1920.

10
ABOLISH MARRIAGE!*

A correspondent, whom I know well, raises an issue.
I take it for purely academic interest, because I know
the views he has set forth are not his. "Is not our pre-
sent-day morality unnatural ? " he asks. "If it was natural,
it should have been the same everywhere in all ages;
but every race and community seem to have its own
peculiar marriage laws, and in enforcing them men have
made themselves worse than beasts. For diseases which
are unknown amongst animals are quite common amongst
men; infanticide, abortions, child-marriages, which are
impossible in the brute creation, are the curse of the
society that holds up marriage as a sacrament, and no
end of evil results have sprung from what we uphold
as laws of morality. And the miserable condition of
Hindu widows what is it due to, but to the existing
marriage laws ? Why not go back to nature, and take a
leaf out of the book of the brute creation? "

I do not know whether the advocates of free love
in the West resort to the argument summarized above or
have any stronger reasons to put forth, but I am sure
that the tendency to regard the marriage bond as bar-
barous is distinctly Western. If the argument is also
borrowed from the West, there is no difficulty about
meeting it.

It is a mistake to institute a comparison between man
and the brute, and it is this comparison that vitiates the
whole argument, for man is higher than the brute in
his moral instincts and moral institutions. The law of
nature as applied to the one is different from the law
of nature as applied to the other. Man has reason,
discrimination, and free will such as it is. The brute has
no such thing. It is not a free agent, and knows no
distinction between virtue and vice, good and evil. Man,

* A condensed translation from Nara)ivan, reprinted from Young
India. June 3, 1926.

76 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

being a free agent, knows these distinctions, and when
he follows his higher nature, shows himself far superior
to the brute, but when he follows his baser nature, can
show himself lower than the brute. Even the races
regarded as the most uncivilized on earth accept some
restriction on sexual relations. If it be said that the res-
triction is itself barbarous, then freedom from all restraints
should be the law of man. If all men were to act according
to this lawless law, there would be perfect chaos within
twentyfour hours. Man being by nature more passionate
than the brute, the moment all restraint was withdrawn,
the lava of unbridled passion would overspread the whole
earth and destroy mankind. Man is superior to the brute
inasmuch as he is capable of self-restraint and sacrifice,
of which the brute is incapable.

Some of the diseases that are so common at the pre-
sent day are the result of infringement of marriage laws.
I should like to know a single instance of a man strictly
observing the restraint of the marriage bond having
suffered from the diseases the correspondent has in mind.
Infanticide, child marriages and the like are also the
result of the breach of marriage laws. For the law lays
down that a man or woman shall choose a mate only
when he or she has come of age, is healthy, and capable
of restraint, and desires to have progeny. Those who
' strictly obey this law and regard the marriage bond as
a sacrament have never an occasion to be unhappy or
miserable. Where marriage is a sacrament, the union is
not the union of bodies but the union of souls indisso-
luble even by the death of either party. Where there
is a true union of souls, the remarriage of a widow or
widower is unthinkable, improper and wrong. Marriages,
where the true law of marriage is ignored, do not
deserve the name. If we have very few true marriages
nowadays, it is not the institution of marriage that is to
blame, but the prevailing form of it, which should be
reformed.

The correspondent contends that marriage is no
moral or religicus bond but a custom, and a custom

ABOLISH MARRIAGE ! 77

which is opposed to religion and morality, and hence
deserves to be abolished. I submit that marriage is a
fence that protects religion. If the fence were to be
destroyed, religion would go to pieces. The foundation
of religion is restraint, and marriage is nothing but
restraint. The man who knows no restraint has no hope
of self-realization. I confess it may be difficult to prove
the necessity of restraint to an atheist or a materialist.
But he who knows the perishable nature of flesh from
the imperishable nature of the spirit instinctively knows
that self-realization is impossible without self-discipline
and self-restraint. The body may either be a playground
of passion, or a temple of self-realization. If it is the
latter, there is no room there for libertinism. The spirit
needs must curb the flesh every moment.

Woman will be the apple of discord where the
marriage bond is loose, where there is no observance
of the lavfr of restraint. If men were as unrestricted as
the brutes, they would straightway take the road to
destruction, I am firmly of opinion that all the evils that
the correspondent complains of can be eradicated
not by abolishing marriage but by a systematic under-
standing and observance of the law of marriage.

I agree that, whereas amongst some communities
marriage is permitted amongst very near relations, it is
prohibited among other communities; that whereas some
communities forbid polygamy, some permit it. Whilst
one would wish that there was a uniform moral law
accepted by all communities, the diversity does not
point to the necessity of abolishing all restraint. As we
grow wise in experience, our morality will gain uniformity.
Even today the moral sense of the world holds up
monogamy as the highest ideal, and no religion makes
polygamy obligatory. The ideal remains unaffected by the
relaxation of practice according to time and place.

I need not reiterate my views regarding remarriage
of widows, as I consider remarriage of virgin widows
not only desirable but the bounden duty of all parents
who happen to have such widowed daughters.

11

CONSERVATION OF VITAL ENERGY*

Readers of Young India will excuse me for discussing
in public delicate problems I would fain discuss
only in private. But the literature I have felt compelled
to glance through, and the copious correspondence my
review of M. Bureau's book has given rise to, demand
a public discussion of a question which is of paramount
interest to society. A Malabar correspondent writes :

"In your review of M. Bureau's book it is stated that there
is no case on record of celibacy or long abstention producing
any evil effects on us. In my own case, however, three weeks
seem to be the utmost limit of beneficial abstention. At the end
of that period I usually feel a heaviness of body, a restlessness
both of body and mind, leading to bad temper. Relief is obtained
either by normal coitus or nature herself coming to the rescue
by an involuntary discharge. Far from feeling weak or nervous,
I become the next morning calm and light, and am able to
proceed to my work with added gusto.

"A friend of mine, however, developed distinctly injurious
symptoms by abstention. He is about 32 years of age, a strict
vegetarian and a very religious person He is absolutely free
from any vicious habits of body or mind. Yet he was having till
two years ago, when he married, Copious discharges at night
followed by weakness of body and depression of spirits. Lately
he developed excruciating pain in the abdominal region. On the
advice of an ayurvedic doctor he married and is now cured.

" 1 am intellectually convinced of the superiority of celibacy
on which all our ancient Shastras agree. But the experiences I
have quoted above make it clear that we are not able to absorb
in our system the highly vital secretion of the testes , whidh con-
sequently becomes a toxic product. I humbly request you,
therefore, to publish in Young India, for the benefit of people
like me who have no doubt as to the importance of chastity
acd abstention, any device, such as the asanas of Hathayoga, which
will enable us to assimilate and absorb the vital product in our
system."

The instances quoted by the correspondent are
typical. In several such cases I have observed hasty
generalizations from insufficient data. Ability to retain
and assimilate the vital fluid is a matter of long training.

^Reprinted from Young India, September 2, 1926.

CONSERVATION OF VITAL ENERGY 79

It must be so, as it gives a strength to body and mind
such as no other process does with equal effect. Drugs
and mechanical contrivances may keep the body in a
tolerable condition, but they sap the mind and make it
too weak to resist the play of a multitude of passions
which like so many deadly foes surround every human
being.

Too often do we expect results in spite of practices
which are calculated to retard, if not to defeat, them.
The common mode of life is shaped to minister to our
passions. Our food, our literature, our amusements, our
business hours are all regulated so as to excite and feed
our animal passions. The vast majority of us want to
marry, to have children and generally to enjoy our-
selves, be it ever so moderately. It will be so more or
less to the end of time.

But there are, as there always have been, exceptions
to the general rule. Men have wanted to live a life wholly
dedicated to the service of humanity, which is the same
thing as saying to God. They will not divide their time
between the rearing of a special family and the tending
of the general human family. Necessarily such men and
women cannot afford to live the general life which is
designed to promote the special, individual interest.
Those who will be celibates for the sake of God need
to renounce the laxities of life, and find their enjoyment
in its austere rigours. They may be ' in the world ' but
not ' of it '. Their food, their business, their hours of
business, their recreations, their literature, their outlook
upon life must, therefore, be different from the general.

It is now time to inquire whether the correspondent
and his friend desired to live the life of complete absten-
tion and whether they modelled it accordingly. If not,
it is not difficult to understand the relief that the relaxa-
tion brought in the first case and the weakness that
supervened in the second case. Marriage no doubt was
the remedy in that second case, as in the vast majority
of cases marriage is the most natural and desirable state
when one finds oneself even against one's will living the

80 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

married life in one's daily thought. The potency of
thought unsuppressed but unembodied is far greater
than that of thought embodied that is translated into
action. And when the action is brought under due con-
trol, it reacts upon and regulates the thought itself.
Thought thus translated into action becomes a prisoner
and is brought under subjection. Thus considered, mar-
riage too is a mode of restraint.

I must not undertake in the course of a newspaper
article to give detailed instructions for the guidance of
those who desire to live a life of ordered restraint. I
must refer them to my booklet on health written years
ago with that end in view. It does need revision in cer-
tain parts in the light of fresh experiences, but there is
nothing in the book which I would withdraw. General
directions, however, may be safely reiterated here :

1. Eat moderately, always leaving the dining room
with a feeling of pleasant hunger.

2. Highly spiced and fatty vegetarian foods must be
avoided. Separate fat is wholly unnecessary when an
adequate supply of milk is available. A little food suffices
when there is little vital waste.

3. Both the body and the mind must be constantly
occupied in clean pursuits.

4. Early to bed and early to rise is a necessity.

5. Above all a life of restraint presupposes an intense
living desire for reunion with God. When there
is heart perception of this central fact, there will be
continuously increasing reliance upon God to keep His
instrument pure and in order. The Gita says : " Passions
return again and again in spite of fasting, but even the
desire ceases when the Divine is seen. 11 This is literally
true.

The correspondent refers to asams and pranayama. I
believe that they have an important place in the practice
of restraint. But my own experiences in this direction,
I am sorry to say, are not worth recording. There is,
to my knowledge, little literature on the subject that is
based on present experience. But it is a field worthy

INFLUENCE OF ATTITUDES 81

of exploration. I would, however, warn the inexperienced
reader from trying it or accepting the directions of the
next hathayogi he may meet with. Let him be sure that
an abstemious and godly life is wholly sufficient to
achieve the much to be desired restraint.

12
INFLUENCE OF ATTITUDES*

" I have been very interested in your articles in Young India on
the subject of birth control. I expect you have read J. A. Hadfteld's
book Psychology and Motals. I want to draw your attention to this
passage from it ' We therefore speak of sexual pleasure when
the expression of this instinct is alien to our moral sense, and
we speak of sexual joy when the expression of this instinct is
in conformity with the sentiment of love. Such expressions of
sex feelings, far from destroying, actually deepen, the love of
husband and wife, whereas free sexual indulgence on the one
hand, and ^n the other hand sexual abstinence practised undei the
false idea that the instinct is but a low pleasure, often produces 11 ntabihty
and the weakening of love, ' i. e. he holds that the act of sexual union
has a sacramental value in deepening the love between a man
and a woman, quite apart from the production of children. If he
is right in this and I am inclined to think he is, for, apart from
the fact that he is an eminent psychologist, I have myself known
of cases in which married life has been distorted and spoiled
by attempts to repress the natural desire for physical expression
of love then I wonder how you would justify your doctrine
that the only justifiable act of union is that intended for the
production of children. For consider this case. A young man and
a young woman love each other. It is beautiful and part of God's
plan that they should do so. But they haven't enough money to
support and educate a child. And I suppose you would agree
that to bring a child into the world without being able to do
these things is sinful; or if you like, say that it is bad for the
woman's health to have one, or that she has had too may
anything like that. Now according to you a couple has two alter-
natives either they must marry and yet live separately, inj
which case, if Hadfield is right, their love will tend to be
spoiled, because of the irritability produced by repressed
desires, or they must remain unmarried, in which case too their
love will be spoiled, for nature gloriously ignores our human

*Reprmted from Young India, September 16, 1926.

82 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

institutions. They might, of course, go right away from each
other : but even in separation their minds would be active, and
so able to develop complexes. And even if you change society
so that it is possible for all people to have as many children
as come, there is still the danger to the race of overbreeding
and to the individual woman of excessive childbirth. For a man
might control himself tremendously and still have a child a year.
You must either advocate chastity or birth control, for occasional
indulgence may lead as it has sometimes done amongst English
clergymen to the death of the mother bringing each year into
the world the children her husband is pleased to say God
sends her

What you call self-control is quite as much an interference
with nature as contraceptives more in fact. Men may overindulge
their passions through birth control methods but then they do
this without them in all conscience and at least if they
don't produce children by their sin, they alone will surfer for
it and not others. Remember the mine-owners will win this pre-
sent fight because there are too many miners. The too profuse
breeders punish not only the children they breed but also huma-
nity in general. "

So writes a correspondent. The letter to me is a

study in mental attitudes and their influence. Mind takes

a rope to be a snake, and the man with that mentality

turns pale and runs away, or takes up a stick to belabour

the fancied snake. Another mistakes a sister for wife

and has animal passion rising in his breast. The passion

subsides the moment he discovers his mistake. And so

in the case quoted by the correspondent. No doubt,

whilst ' abstinence is practised under the false idea that

the instinct is but a low pleasure, ' it is likely ' to produce

irritability and the weakening of love. ' But if abstinence

is practised with the desire to strengthen the bond of

love, to purify it, and to conserve the vital energy for

a better purpose, instead of promoting irritability it will

promote equanimity, and instead of loosening the bond

of affection strengthen it. Love based upon indulgence

- 1 nassion is at best a selfish affair and likely to

e slightest strain. And why should the

* sacrament in the human species, if it is

the lower animals ? Why should we not

lat it is in reality, i. e. a simple act of

INFLUENCE OF ATTITUDES 83

procreation to which we are helplessly drawn for the
perpetuation of the species ? Only man, having been
gifted with a free will to a limited extent, exercises the
human prerogative of self-denial for the sake of the
nobler purpose to which he is born than his brother
animals. It is the force of habit which makes us think
the sexual act to be necessary and desirable for the pro-
motion of love, apart from procreation, in spite of innu-
merable experiences to the contrary that it does not
deepen love, that it is in no way necessary for its reten-
tion or enrichment. Indeed instances can be quoted in
which that bond has grown stronger with abstinence. No
doubt abstinence must be a voluntary act undertaken
for mutual moral advancement.

Human society is a ceaseless growth, an unfoldment
in terms of spirituality. If so, it must be based on ever-
increasing restraint upon the demands of the flesh. Thus
marriage must be considered to be a sacrament imposing
discipline upon the partners, restricting them to the
physical union only among themselves and for the pur-
pose only of procreation when both the partners desire
and are prepared for it. Then in either case supposed
by the correspondent, there would be no question of
sexual act outside the desire for procreation.

There is an end to all argument, if we start, as my
correspondent has started, with the premise that sexual
act is a necessity outside of the purpose of procreation.
The premise is vitiated in the presence of authentic in-
stances that can be cited of complete abstinence having
been practised by some of the highest among mankind
in all climes. It is no argument against the possibility
or desirability of abstinence to say that it is difficult for
the vast majority of mankind. What was not possible
for the vast majority a hundred years ago has been
found possible today. And what is a hundred years in
the cycle of time open to us for making infinite progress ?
If scientists are right, it was but yesterday that we
found ourselves endowed with the human body* Who
knows, who dare prescribe, its limitation ? Indeed every

84 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

day we are discovering the infiniteness of its capacity
for good as well as evil.

If the possibility and desirability of abstinence be
admitted, we must find out and devise the means of
attaining it. And as I have said in a previous article,
life must be remodelled, if we are to live under res-
traint and discipline. We may not, as the vulgar saying
goes, eat the cake and have it too, If we would impose
restraint upon the organs of procreation, we must impose
it upon all the others. If the eye and the ear and the
nose and the tongue, the hands and the feet are let
loose, it is impossible to keep the primary organ under
check. Most cases of irritability, hysteria and even
insanity, which are wrongly ascribed to attempts at
continence, will in truth be found traceable to the incon-
tinence of the other senses. No sin, no breach of nature's
laws, goes unpunished.

I must not quarrel about words. If self-control be
an interference with nature precisely in the same sense
as contraceptives, be it so. I would still maintain that the
one interference is lawful and desirable because it pro-
motes the well-being of the individuals as well as society,
whereas the other degrades both and is therefore un-
lawful. Self-control is the surest and the only method
of regulating the birth-rate. Birth-control by contracep-
tives is race suicide.

Lastly, if the mine-owners are in the wrong and still
win, they will do so not because the miners overbreed,
but because the miners have not learnt the lesson of
restraint all along the line. If miners had no children,
they would have no incentive for any betterment and
no provable cause for a rise in wages. Need they
drink, gamble, smoke? Will it be any answer to say
that mine-owners do all the things and yet have the
upper hand? If the miners do not claim to be better
than the capitalist, what right have they to ask for the
world's sympathy ? Is it to multiply capitalists and
strengthen capitalism? We are called upon to pay
homage to democracy under the promise of a better

A MORAL STRUGGLE 85

world when it reigns supreme. Let us not reproduce
on a vast scale the evils we choose to ascribe to capi-
talist and capitalism.

I am painfully conscious of the fact that self-control
is not easily attainable. But its slowness need not ruffle
us. Haste is waste. Impatience will not end the evil
of excessive birth-rate among the proletariat. Workers
among the proletariat have a tremendous task before
them. Let them not rule out of their lives the lessons
of restraint that the greatest teachers among mankind
have handed to us out of the rich stores of their experi-
ences. The fundamental truths they have given us
were tested by them in a better laboratory than any
equipped under the most up-to-date conditions. The
necessity of self-control is the common teaching of
them all.

13
A MORAL STRUGGLE*

"I am a husband aged 30. My wife is about the same age.
We have five children, of which two are fortunately dead I
know the responsibility for the rest of our children But I find it
difficult, if not impossible, to discharge that responsibility. You
have advised self-restraint. Well, I have practised it for the
last three years, but that is very much against my partner's
wish. She insists on what poor mortals call the joy of life. You
from your superior height may call it a sin But my partner does
not see it in that light. Nor is she afraid of bearing more children
to me. She has not the sense of responsibility that I flatter my-
self with the belief 1 have. My parents side more with my wife
than with me, and there are daily quarrels. The denial of satis-
faction to my wife has made her so peevish and so irritable
that she flares up on the slightest pretext. My problem now is
how to solve the difficulty. Tne children I have are too many
for me. I am too poor to support them, The wife seems utterly
irreconcilable If she does not have the satisfaction she demands,
she may even go astray, or go mad, or commit suicide. I tell
you, sometimes I feel that, if the law of the land permitted it, I
would shoot down all unwanted children as you would stray

^Reprinted from Young India, April 26, 1928.

86- SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

dogs. For the last three months I have gone without the second
meal, without tiffin. I have business obligations which prevent me
from fasting for days. I get no compassion from the wife because
she considers I am a humbug. I know the literature on birth
control. It is temptingly written. And I have read your book on
self-restraint. I find myself between the devil and the deep sea."

The foregoing is a faithful paraphrase of a heart-
rending letter from a young man who has given me his
full name and address and whom I have known for some
years. Being afraid to give his name, he tells me he
wrote twice before anonymously, hoping that I would deal
with his communications in the pages of Young India.
I receive so many anonymous letters of this type that I
hesitate to deal with them, even as I have considerable
hesitation in dealing with this letter, although I know it to
be perfectly genuine and know it to be a letter from a
striving soul. The subject matter is so delicate. But I see
that I may not shirk an obvious duty, claiming as I do
claim a fair amount of experience of such cases and
more especially because my method has given relief in
several similar cases.

The condition in India, so far as English-educated
Indians are concerned, is doubly difficult. The gulf bet-
ween husband and wife from the point of view of social
attainments is almost too wide to be bridgeable. Some
young men seem to think that they have solved it satis-
factorily by simply throwing their wives overboard,
although they know that in their caste there is no divorce
possible and therefore no remarriage on the part of
their wives possible. Yet others and this is the far
more numerous class use their wives merely as vehi-
cles of enjoyment without sharing their intellectual life
with them. A very small number but daily growing
has a quickened conscience and is faced with the
moral difficulty such as my correspondent is faced with.

In my opinion, sexual union to be legitimate is per-
missible only when both the parties desire it. I do not
recognize the right of either partner to compel satisfac-
tion. And if my position is correct in the case in point,
there is no moral obligation on the part of the husband

A MORAL STRUGGLE 87

to yield to the wife's importunities. But this refusal at
once throws a much greater and more exalted respon-
sibility on the husband's shoulders. He will not look
down upon his wife from his insolent height, but will
humbly recognize that what to him is not a necessity is
to her a fundamental necessity. He will therefore treat her
with the utmost gentleness and love, and will have con-
fidence in his own purity to transmute his partner's
passion into energy of the highest type. He will therefore
have to become her real friend, guide and physician.
He will have to give her his fullest confidence, and with
inexhaustible patience explain to her the moral basis of
of his action, the true nature of the relationship that
should subsist between husband and wife, and the true
meaning of marriage. He will find in the process that
many things that were not clear to him before will be
clear, and he will draw his partner closer to him if his
own restraint is truthful.

In the case in point I cannot help saying that the
desire not to have more children is not enough reason
for refusing satisfaction. It appears almost cowardly to
reject one's wife's advances merely for fear of having
to support children. A check upon an unlimited increase
in the family is a good ground for both the parties jointly
and individually putting a restraint upon sexual desire,
but it is not sufficient warrant for one to refuse the
privileges of a common bed to the other.

And why this impatience of children ? Surely there
is enough scope for honest, hard-working and intelligent
men to earn enough for a reasonable number of children.
I admit that for one like my correspondent, who is
honestly trying to devote his whole time to the service
of the country, it is difficult to support a large and
growing family and at the same time to serve a country,
millions of whose children are semi-starved. I have often
expressed the opinion in these pages that it is wrong to
bring forth progeny in India so long as she is in bondage.
But that is a very good reason for young men and
young women to abstain from marriage, not a

88 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

conclusive reason for one partner refusing sexual
co-operation to the other. That co-operation can be
lawfully refused, it is a duty to refuse, when the call for
Brahmacharya on the highest ground of pure religion
is imperative. And when such a call has really come, it
will have its healthy reaction upon the partner. Assuming,
however, that it does not produce such reaction in time,
it will still be a duty to adhere to restraint even at the
risk of losing the life or the sanity of one's partner. The
cause of Brahmacharya demands sacrifices no less heroic
than, say, the cause of truth or of one's country. In view
of what I have said above, it is hardly necessary
to state that artificial control of birth is an immoral
practice having no place in the conception of life that
underlies my argument.

14
VOW OF BRAHMACHARYA*

After full discussion and mature deliberation I took
the vow of Brahmacharya in 1906. I had not shared
my thoughts with my wife until then, but only consulted
her at the time of taking the vow. She had no objec-
tion. But I was hard put to it in making the final
resolve. I had not the necessary strength. How was I
to control my passions ? The elimination of carnal rela-
tionship with one's wife seemed then a strange thing.
But I launched forth with faith in the sustaining power
of God.

As I looked back upon the twenty years of the vow,
I am filled with pleasure and wonderment. The more
or less successful practice of self-control had been go-
ing on since 1901. But the freedom and joy that came
to me after taking the vow had never been experienced
before 1906. Before the vow I had been open to being

*Repnnt of Chapter VIII of the author's Autobiography, Part III.

VOW OF BRAHMACHARYA 89

overcome by temptation at any moment. Now the
vow was a sure shield against temptation. The great
potentiality of Brahmacharya daily became more and
more patent to me. The vow was taken when I was in
Phoenix. As soon as I was free from ambulance work,
I went to Phoenix, whence I had to return to Johannes-
burg. In about a month of my returning there, the
foundation of Satyagraha was laid. As though unknown
to me, the Brahmacharya vow had been preparing me
for it. Satyagraha had not been a preconceived plan.
It came on spontaneously, without my having willed it.
But I could see that all my previous steps had led up
to that goal. I had cut down my household expenses
at Johannesburg and gone to Phoenix, to take, as it
were, the Brahmacharya vow.

The knowledge that a perfect observance of Brahma-
charya means realization of Brahman I did not owe to
the study of the Shastra*. It slowly grew upon me with
experience. The Shastraic texts on the subject I read
only later in life. Every day of the vow has taken me
nearer the knowledge that in Brahmacharya lies the
protection of the body, the mind and the soul. For
Brahmacharya was now no process of hard penance,
it was a matter of consolation and joy. Every day
revealed a fresh beauty in it.

But if it was a matter of ever increasing joy, let no
one believe that it was an easy thing for me. Even
while I am past fif tysix years, I realize how hard a thing
it is. Every day I realize more and more that it is like
walking on the sword's edge, and I see every moment
the necessity for eternal vigilance.

Control of the palate is the ftrst essential in the
observance of the vow. I found that complete control
of the palate made the observance very easy, and so I
now pursued my dietetic experiments not merely from
the vegetarian's but also the Brahmachans point of
view. As the result of these experiments I saw that the
Brahmacharfs food should be limited, simple, spiceless
and, if possible, uncooked.

90 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

Six years of experiment have showed me that the
Brahmachans ideal food is fresh fruit and nuts. The
immunity from passion that I enjoyed when I lived on
this food was unknown to me after I changed that diet.
Brahmacharya needed no effort on my part in South
Africa when I lived on fruits and nuts alone. It has been
a matter of very great effort ever since I began to take
milk. How I had to go back to milk from a fruit diet
will be considered in its proper place. It is enough to
observe here that I have not the least doubt that milk
diet makes the Brahmacharya vow difficult to observe. Let
no one deduce from this that all Brahmackans must give
up milk. The effect on Brahmacharya of different kinds
of food can be determined only after numerous
experiments. I have yet to find a fruit substitute for
milk which is an equally good muscle builder and easily
digestible. The doctors, vaidyas, hakims have alike failed
to enlighten me. Therefore, though I know milk to be
partly a stimulant, I cannot for the time being advise
anyone to give it up.

As an external aid to Brahmacharya, fasting is as
necessary as selection and restriction in diet. So over-
powering are the senses that they can be kept under
control only when they are completely hedged in on
all sides, from above and from beneath. It is common
knowledge that they are powerless without food, and so
fasting undertaken with a view to control the senses is,
I have no doubt, very helpful. With some fasting is of
no avail, because assuming that mechanical fasting alone
will make them immune, they keep their bodies without
food, but feast their minds upon all sorts of delicacies,
thinking all the while as to what they will eat and
what they will drink after the fast terminates. Such fasting
helps them in controlling neither palate nor lust. Fasting
is useful when mind cooperates with starving body, that is
to say, when it cultivates a distaste for the objects that are
denied to the body. Mind is at the root of all sensuality.
Fasting, therefore, has a limited use, for a fasting man may
continue to be swayed by passion. But it may be said that

VOW OF BRAHMACHARYA 91

*

extinction of the sexual passion is as a rule impossible
without fasting, which may be said. to be indispensable
for the observance of Brahmacharya. Many aspirants
after Bnhmacharya fail, because in the use of their
other senses they want to carry on as those who
are not Brahmachans. Their effort is therefore identical
with the effort to experience the bracing cold of winter
in the scorching summer months. There should be a
clear line between the life of a Brahmachan and of one
who is not. The resemblance that there is between the
two is only apparent. The distinction ought to be clear
as daylight. Both use their eyesight, but whereas the
Brahnnchan uses ft to see the glories of God, the other
uses it to see the frivolity around him. Both use their
ears, but whereas the one hears nothing but praises of
God, the other feasts his ears upon ribaldry. Both often
keep late hours, but whereas the one devotes them to
prayer, the other fritters them away in wild and wasteful
mirth. Both feed the inner man, but the one does so
only to keep the temple of God in good repair, while
the other gorges himself and makes the sacred vessel
a stinking gutter. Thus both live as the poles apart, and
the distance between them will grow and not diminish
with the passage of time.

~ Brahmacharya means control of the senses in thought,
word and deed. Every day I have been realizing more
and more the necessity for restraints of the kind I have
detailed above. There is no limit to the possibilities of
renunciation, even as there is none to those of Biahmi-
charya. Such Brnhmachar\a is impossible of attainment
by limited effort. For many, it must remain only as an
ideal. An aspirant after Brahmacharya will always be
conscious of his shortcomings, will seek out the passions
lingering in the innermost recesses of his heart, and
will incessantly strive to get rid of them. So long as
thought is not under complete control of the will,
Brahmacharya in its fulness is absent. Involuntary thought
is an affection of the mind; and Airbing of thought
therefore means curbing of the mind which is even

92 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

more difficult to curb than the wind. Nevertheless the
existence of God within makes even control of the mind
possible. Let no one think that it is impossible because
it is difficult. It is the highest goal, and it is no wonder
that the highest effort should be necessary to attain it.

But it was aftftF coming to India that I realized that
such Brahmacharya was impossible to attain merely by
human effort. Until then I had been labouring under the
delusion that fruit diet alone would enable me to
eradicate all passions, and I had flattered myself with
the belief that I had nothing more to do.

But I must not anticipate the chapter of my struggles.
Meanwhile let me make it clear that those who desire
to observe Brahmacharva with a view to realizing God
need not despair, provided their faith in God is equal
to their confidence in their own effort.

n

1 The sense-objects turn away from an abstemious soul,
leaving the relish behind. The relish also disappears
with the realization of the Highest. 1 Therefore His name
and His grace are the last resources of the aspirant
after moksha. This truth came to me only after my return
to India.

15
'STARTLING CONCLUSIONS'*

William R. Thurston, according to the publisher's
preface, was a Major in the United States army, which
he served for nearly ten years. And, during these
years, he had varied experiences in several parts of
the world, including China. During his travels he studied
the effects of marriage laws and customs, as a result
of which he felt the call to write a book on marriage.
This book, Which is called Thurston* Philosophy of Marriage
and was published last year by the Tiffany Press,
New York, contains only 32 pages of bold type, and
can be read inside of an hour. The author has not entered
into an elaborate argument, but has simply set forth his
conclusions with just a dash of argument to support his
conclusions which the publisher truly describes as
'startling 1 . In his foreword, the author claims to have
based his conclusions on "personal observation, data
obtained from physicians, statistics of social hygiene and
medical statistics 11 , compiled during the war. His conclu-
sions are:

1 "That Nature never intended a woman to be bound to a
man for life, and to be compelled to occupy the same bed or
habitation with him, night after night, in pregnancy and out, in
order to earn her board and lodging, and to exercise her natural
right to bear children

2. ''That the daily and nightly juxtaposition of the male
and female, which is a result of present marriage laws and
customs, leads to unrestrained sexual intercourse, which perverts
the natural instincts of both male and female, and makes partial
prostitutes of 90% of all married women. This condition arises
from the fact that married women have been -led to believe that
such prostitution of themselves is right and natural because it
is legal, and that it is necessary in order to retain the affections
of their husbands "
The author then goes on to describe the effects of

'continual unrestrained sexual intercourse', which I

epitomize as follows :

*Reprinted from Young India, 27-9-1928.

94 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

(a) "It causes the woman to become highly nervous, prema-
turely aged, diseased, irritable, restless, discontented, and
incapable of properly caring for her children

(b) "Among the poorer classes, it leads to the propagation
of many children who are not wanted . .

(c) "Among the higher classes, unrestrained sexual inter-
course leads to the practice of contraception and abortion " "If
contraceptive methods, under the name of * birth control ' or any other
name, ate taught to the majority of the women of the masses, the race will
become geneiallv diseased, demoralized, depraved, and will eventually
pensh " (The italics are the author's.)

(d) "Excessive sexual intercourse drains the male of the
vitality necessary for earning a good living." "At present thae aie
approximately 2,000,000 moie widows in the United States than there
ate widowers Comparatively few of these are war widows " (The italics
are the author's )

(e) "The excessive sexual intercourse incident to the present
married state develops in the minds of both male and female a
sense of futility." "The poverty of the woild today and the slums of
the larger cities are not due to lack of profitable labour to be performed,
but to excessive, unrestrained sexual intercourse, resulting from present
marnagc laws" (The italics are the author's.)

(f) "Most serious of all from the standpoint of the future of
the human race is sexual intercourse during pregnancy."

Then follows an indictment of China and India into
which I need not go. This brings us to half of this
booklet. The next half is devoted to the remedy.

The central fact of the remedy is that husband and
wife must always live in separate rooms, therefore
necessarily sleep in separate beds, and meet only
when both desire progeny, but especially the wife. I
do not intend to give the changes suggested in the
marriage laws. The one thing common to all marriages
throughout the world is a common room and a common
bed, and this the author condemns in unmeasured
terms, I venture to think, rightly. There is no doubt
that much of the sensuality of our nature, whether male
or female, is due to the superstition bearing a religious
sanction that married people are bound to share the
same bed and the same room. It has produced a
mentality, the disastrous effect of which it is difficult for
us, living in the atmosphere generated by that super-
stition, properly to estimate.

* STARTLING CONCLUSIONS 95

The author is equally opposed, as we have already
seen, to contraceptive methods.

S. Ganesan, the enterprising publisher of Madras,
has obtained the permission of the author to reprint
the booklet for circulation in India. If he does so, the
reader can possess a copy at a trifling price. He has
secured also the rights of t' mslation.

Many of the other remedies suggested by the author
are, in my opinion, not of practical use to us, and in
any case require legislative sanction. But every hus-
band and wife can make a fixed resolution from today
never to share the same room or the same bed at
night, and to avoid sexual contact, except for the one
supreme purpose for which it is intended for both man
and beast. The beast observes the law invariably.
Man having got the choice has grievously erred in
making the wrong choice. Every woman can decline
to have anything to do with contraception. Both man
and woman should know that abstention from satisfac-
tion of the sexual appetite results not in disease but in
health and vigour, provided that mind cooperates with
the body. The author believes that the present condi-
tion of marriage laws ' is responsible for the greater
part of all the ills of the world today. 1 One need not
share this sweeping belief with the author to come to
the two final decisions I have suggested. But there
can be no doubt that a large part of the miseries of
today can be avoided, if we look at the relations
between the sexes in a healthy and pure light, and
regard ourselves as trustees for the moral welfare of
the future generations.

16
BRAHMACHARYA or CHASTITY

The third among our observances is Brahmacharva.
As a matter of fact all observances are deducible from
Truth, and are meant to subserve it. The man, who is
wedded to Truth and worships Truth alone, proves un-
faithful to her, if he applies his talents to anything else.
How then can he minister to the senses? A man,
whose activities are wholly consecrated to the realiza-
tion of Truth, which requires utter selflessness, can
have no time for the selfish purpose of begetting child-
ren and running a household. Realization of Truth
through self-gratification should, after what has been
said before, appear a contradiction of terms.

If we look at it from the standpoint of ahimsa ( non-
violence), we find that the fulfilment of ahimsa is im-
possible without utter selflessness. Ahnn^a means Uni-
versal Love. If a man gives his love to one woman, or
a woman to one man, what is there left for all the
world besides? It simply means, "We two first, and
the devil take all the rest of them." As a faithful wife
must be prepared to sacrifice her all for the sake of
her husband, and a faithful husband for the sake of his
wife, it is clear that such persons cannot rise to the
height of Universal Love, or look upon all mankind as
kith and kin. For they have created a boundary wall
round their love. The larger their family, the farther
are they from Universal Love. Hence one who would
obey the law of ahimsa cannot marry, not to speak of
gratification outside the marital bond.

Then what about people who are already married?
Will they never be able to realize Truth ? Can they
never offer up their all at the altar of humanity ?
There is a way out for them. They can behave as if
they were not married. Those who have enjoyed this
happy condition will be able to bear me out. Many
have to my knowledge successfully tried the experiment.

BRAHMACHARYA OR CHASTITY 97

If the married couple can think of each other as
brother and sister, they are freed for universal service.
The very thought that all the women in the world
are one's sisters, mothers or daughters will at once
ennoble a man and snap his chains. The husband
and wife do not lose anything here, but only add to
their resources and even to their family. Their love
becomes free from the impurity of lust and so grows
stronger. With the disappearance of this impurity, they
can serve each other better, and the occasions for
quarrel become fewer. There are more occasions for
quarrel, where the love is selfish and bounded.

If the foregoing argument is appreciated, a consi-
deration of the physical benefits of chastity becomes a
matter of secondary importance. How foolish it is inten-
tionally to dissipate vital energy in sensual enjoyment!
It is a grave misuse to fritter away for physical gratifi-
cation that which is given to man and woman for the
full development of their bodily and mental powers.
Such misuse is the root cause of many a disease.

Brahmacharya, like all other observances, must be
observed in thought, word and deed. We are told in
the Gita, and experience will corroborate the state-
ment, that the foolish man, who appears to control his
body but is nursing evil thoughts in his mind, makes a
vain effort. It may be harmful to suppress the body,
if the mind is at the same time allowed to go astray.
Where the mind wanders, the body must follow sooner
or later.

It is necessary here to appreciate a distinction. It is
one thing to allow the mind to harbour impure thoughts;
it is a different thing altogether if it strays among them
in spite of ourselves. Victory will be ours in the end,
if we non-cooperate with the mind in its evil wanderings.

We experience every moment of our lives that often
while the body Is subject to our control, the mind is
not This physical control should never be relaxed, and
in addition we must put forth a constant endeavour to
bring the mind under control. We can do nothing more,

S-7

98 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

nothing less. If we give way to the mind, the body and
the mind will pull different ways, and we shall be false
to ourselves. Body and mind may be said to go together,
so long as we continue to resist the approach of every
evil thought.

* The observance of Brahmacharya has been believed
to be very difficult, almost impossible. In trying to find
a reason for this belief, we see that the term Brahma-
charya has been taken in a narrow sense. Mere control
of animal passion has been thought to be tantamount to
observing Brahmacharya. I feel that this conception is
incomplete and wrong. Brahmachayya means control of
all the organs of sense. He, who attempts to control
only one organ and allows all the others free play, is
bound to find his effort futile. To hear suggestive stories
with the ears, to see suggestive sights with the eyes, to
taste stimulating food with the tongue, to -touch exciting
things with the hands, and then at the same time expect
to control the only remaining organ, is like putting one's
hands in a fire, and then expecting to escape being burnt.
He, therefore, who is resolved to control the one must be
likewise determined to control the rest. I have always
felt that much harm has been done by the narrow
definition of Brahmacharya. If we practise simultaneous
self-control in all directions, the attempt will be scientific
and possible of success^) Perhaps the palate is the chief
sinner. That is why in the Ashram we have assigned to
control of the palate a separate place among our
observances.

Let us remember the root meaning of Brahmacharya.
Charya means course of conduct; Brahma-charya conduct
adapted to the search of Brahma, i. e., Truth. From this
etymological meaning, arises the special meaning, viz.,
control of all the senses. We must entirely forget the
incomplete definition which restricts itself to the sexual
aspect only.

From Yeravda Mandir, Ch. Ill

17
BIRTH CONTROL (I)

A co-worker who is a careful reader of my writings
was disturbed to read that I was likely to approve of
the ' safe period f method of birth control. I endeavoured
to make it clear to the friend that the safe period method
did not repel me as did the use of contraceptives and
that it was open largely only to married couples. But
the discussion of the topic led us into much deeper
waters than either of us had expected. The fact that my
friend was repelled by the safe period method as much
as by that of pontraceptives showed to me that he
believed in the possibility of ordinary persons practising
the restraint imposed by the Smntis, i. e. that the union
between husband and wife was permitted only when
the parties really desired to have children. Whilst I
knew the rule, I had never regarded it in the light
that I began to do at the discussion. All these long
years I had regarded it as a counsel of perfection not
to be carried out literally, and had believed that so long
as married couples carried on intercourse by mutual
consent but without special regard to the desire for
progeny, they were carrying out the purpose of marriage
without breaking any positive injunction of the Smritts.
But the new light in which I viewed the Smnti text was
a revelation to me. I understood now as I never had
done before the statement that married people, who
strictly observed the injunction of the Smntis, were as
much Brahmachans as those who were never married
and lived chaste lives.

The sole object of sexual intercourse according to
the new light was the desire for progeny, never grati-
fication of the sexual instinct. Simple gratification of the
instinct would be counted according to this view of
marriage as lust. This may appear to be a harsh expres-
sion to use for our enjoyment which has hitherto been
regarded as innocent and legitimate. But I am not dealing

100 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

with custom. I am dealing with the science of marriage
as propounded by Hindu sages. Their presentation may
be faulty, it may be altogether wrong. But for one like
me who believes in several Smnti texts as inspired and
based on experience, there is no escape from a full
acceptance of their meaning. I know no other way of
finding the truth of things and testing certain old texts
in accordance with their full meaning, no matter how
hard the test may appear and how harsh its deductions
may sound.

In the light of what I have said above, birth control
by contraceptives and the like is a profound error. I
write thus with a full sense of my responsibility. I have
great regard for Mrs. Margaret Sanger and her followers.
She impressed me much by her great zeal for her cause.
I know that she has great sympathy for the women who
suffer because they have to bear the burden of carry-
ing and rearing unwanted children. I know also that
this method of birth control has the support of many
Protestant divines, scientists, learned men and doctors,
many of whom I have the honour of knowing personally
and for whom I entertain high regard. But I should be
false to my God who is Truth and nothing but Truth, if
I concealed my belief from the reader or these great
advocates of the method. Indeed, if I hid my belief, I
should never discover my error if my present belief
is one. Moreover its declaration is due to those many
men and women who accept my guidance and advice
in many moral problems including this one concerning
birth control.

That birth requires to be regulated and controlled
is common cause between me and the advocates of
contraceptives and the like. The difficulty of control
through self-restraint is not to be denied. Yet there is
no other way of attaining the end if mankind is to fulfil
its destiny. It is my innermost conviction that if the
method under discussion gains universal acceptance,
mankind will suffer moral deterioration. This I say in

BIRTH CONTROL (l) 101

spite of the evidence to the contrary that is often pro-
duced by the advocates of the method.

I believe I have no superstition in me. Truth is not
truth merely because it is ancient. Nor is it necessarily
to be regarded with suspicion because it is ancient.
There are some fundamentals of life which may not be
lightly given up because they are difficult of enforcement
in one's life.

Birth control through self-control is no doubt difficult.
But no one has yet been known seriously to dispute its
efficacy and even superiority over the use of
contraceptives.

Then, I feel that the full acceptance of the implica-
tion of the injunction of the shastras as to the strictly
confined use of the sexual act, makes the observance
of self-control much easier than if one regards the act
itself as a source of supreme enjoyment. The function
of the organs of generation is merely to generate
progeny obviously of the highest type possible for a
married couple. This can and should only take place
when both parties desire, not sexual union but progeny,
which is the result of such union. Desire for such
union, therefore, without the desire for progeny, must
be considered unlawful and should be restrained.

The possibility of such control for the ordinary man
will be examined in the next issue.

Hanjan, 14-3-1936

18
BIRTH CONTROL (II)

There is nothing in our society today which would
conduce to self-control. Our very upbringing is against
it. The primary concern of parents is to marry their
children anyhow so that they may breed like rabbits.
If they are girls, they are married at as early an age
as they conveniently can be, irrespective of their moral
welfare. The marriage ceremony is one long-drawn-out
agony of feasting and frivolity. The householder's life is
in keeping with the past life. It is a prolongation of
self-indulgence. Holidays and social enjoyments are so
arranged as to allow one the greatest latitude for
sensuous living. The literature that is almost thrust on
one generally panders to the animal passion. The most
modern literature almost teaches that indulgence in it is
a duty and total abstinence a sin.

Is it any wonder if control of the sexual appetite
has become difficult if not almost impossible ? If then
birth control through self-restraint is the most desirable
and sensible and totally harmless method, we must
change the social ideal and environment. The only way
to bring about the desired end is for individuals who
believe in the method of self-control to make the begin-
ning themselves and with unquenchable faith to affect
their surroundings. For them the conception of marriage
I discussed last week has, it seems to me, the greatest
significance. A proper grasp of it means a complete
mental revolution. It is not meant merely for a few select
individuals. It is presented as the law of the human
species'. Its breach reduces the status of human beings
and brings swift punishment in the shape of multiplicity
of unwanted children, a train of ever-increasing diseases,
and disruption of man as a moral being responsible to his
Maker. Birth control by contraceptives no doubt regulates
to a certain extent the number of new-comers and en-
ables persons of moderate means to keep the wolf from

BIRTH CONTROL ( II ) 103

the door. But the moral harm it does to the individual
and society is incalculable. For one thing, the outlook
upon life for those who satisfy the sexual appetite
for the sake of it is wholly changed. Marriage ceases
to be a sacrament for them) It means a revaluation of
the social ideals hitherto prized as a precious treasure.
No doubt this argument will make little appeal to those
who regard the old ideals about marriage as a supersti-
tion. My argument is only addressed to those who
regard marriage as a sacrament and woman not as an
instrument of animal pleasure but as mother of man
and trustee of the virtue of her progeny.

My experience of self-control by fellow-workers
and myself confirms me in the view presented here.
It assumes overwhelming force from the discovery in a
vivid light of the ancient conception of marriage. For
me Brahmacharya in married life now assumes its natural
and inevitable position and becomes as simple as the
fact of marriage itself. Any other method of birth
control seems useless and unthinkable. Once the idea
that the only and grand function of the sexual organ is
generation, possesses man and woman, union for any
other purpose they will hold as criminal waste of the
vital fluid and cosequent excitement caused to man and
woman as an equally criminal waste of precious energ^
It is now easy to understand why the scientists of old
have put such great value upon the vital fluid and why
they have insisted upon its strong transmutation into
the highest form of energy for the benefit of society.
They boldly declare that one who has acquired a per-
fect control over his or her sexual energy strengthens
the whole being, physical, mental and spiritual, and
attains powers unattainable by any other means.

Let not the reader be disturbed by the absence
of many or even any living specimens of such
giant Brahmachans. The Brahmachans we see about
us today are very incomplete specimens. At best
they are aspirants who have acquired control over
their bodies but not their minds. They have not

104 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

become proof against temptation. This is not
because Brahma:har\a is so difficult of attainment.
Social environment is against them, and the majority of
those who are making an honest effort unknowingly
isolate the control of the animal passion from all other
passions, whereas the effort to be successful must in-
clude control over all the passions to which man is
prey. Whilst Brahmacharya is not impossible of attain-
ment by the average man and woman, it must not be
supposed tliat it requires less effort, than that required
by an average student who has set his heart upon be-
coming a master of any one of the sciences. Attain-
ment of Brahmacharya in the sense here meant, means
mastery of the Science of Life.

Hanian, 21-3-1936

19

MARRIED BRAHMACHARYA

A friend writes:

' I have long since held with you that self-control is the only
sovereign method for attaining birth-control. That the sexual
act is meant for procreation only, and apart from it, in any
shape or form, would amount to unnatural gratification of lust,
needs no proof. But sometimes this brings one up against a
grave dilemma. Supposing that the sexual act, once or twice, fails
to lead to conception, what is one to do then ? Where is one
to draw the limit ? It is hard finally to give up all hope of be-
getting offspring. On the other hand, unlimited indulgence in
the sexual act must result in the man being drained of all
vitality. Again, should such a person be told to regard his
failure to beget progeny on the first or the second chance, as
a mark of adverse fate, and on that score to abstain from hav-
ing any further intercourse thereafter? But that would require
an exceptional degree of self-possession and spiritual strength
on the part of the person concerned. Instances of people be-
getting progeny in their declining years after repeated failure
during the years of manhood and youth, are by no means either
unknown or rare. That makes the observance of complete
abstinence still more difficult, and the position becomes further

MARRIED BRAHMACHARYA 105

complicated when the parties happen to be otherwise healthy
and free from any physical defect."

I admit the difficulty, but the difficulty is inherent
in the problem itself. The road to any progress is
strewn with such difficulty, and the story of man's
ascent in the scale of evolution is co-extensive with
the history of the successful overcoming of these diffi-
culties. Take the story of the attempts to conquer the
Himalayas. The higher you go the steeper becomes the
climb, the more difficult the ascent, so much so that its
highest peak still remains unvanquished. The enterprise
has already exacted a heavy toll of sacrifice. Yet every
year sees fresh attempts made only to end in failure
like their predecessors. All that has, however, failed
to damp the spirit of the explorers. If that is the case
with the conquest of the Himalayas, what about the
conquest of self, which is a harder job by far, even as
the reward is richer ? The scaling of the Himalayas can,
at best, give a temporary feeling of elation and triumph.
But the reward of the conquest of self is a spiritual
bliss that knows no waning and grows ever more and
more. It is a well-known maxim of the science of
Brahmacharya that insemination in the case of a man
who has properly kept the rules of Brahmacharya can-
not, ought not to, fail to lead to conception. And this
is just as it should be. When a man has completely
conquered his animality, involuntary incontinence be-
comes impossible, and the desire for sexual gratifica-
tion for its own sake ceases altogether. Sexual union
then takes place only when there is a desire for off-
spring. This is the meaning of what has been described
as 'Married Brahmacharya'. In other words, a person
who obeys this rule, though leading a married life,
attains the same state as and is equal in merit to one
who completely abstains from the sexual act, which is
only a means for procreation, never for self-indulgence.
In practice, it is true, this ideal is seen to be rarely
realized in its completeness. But in shaping our ideals
we cannot think in terms of our weaknesses or the

106 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

possible lapses. The present tendency, however, is to
take a complete swing round, and the protagonists of
contraceptives have almost set up self-indulgence as
their ideal. Self-indulgence obviously can never be an
ideal. There can be no limit to the practice of an
ideal. But unlimited self-indulgence, as everybody would
admit, can only result in certain destruction of the
individual or the race concerned. Hence self-control
alone can be our ideal, and it has been so regarded
from the earliest times. Therefore we have to explore
the means of its attainment, not to circumvent it.

It has become my settled conviction that most of
the difficulties that are experienced in connection with
the practice of Brahmacharya are due to our ignorance
about its laws and would of themselves disappear if we
discovered them. Let us, for instance, examine the
poser propounded by our correspondent in the ideal
light. In the ideal state, in the first place, such a con-
tingency will never arise, because in a normally healthy
couple, who have from their childhood upward ob-
served the rules of Brahmacharya t sexual union can
never prove infertile. In practice, however, anomalies
do arise. The only rule that can be laid down in such
instances is that the coitus may be permitted once at
the end of the monthly period till coception is estab-
lished.* If its object is achieved it must be abjured
forthwith, for mere sensual gratification should never
be its object. It is my faith based on my experience
that bodily and mental health increases in the same
ratio as bodily and mental chastity. Nor is it to be
wondered at. A substance that is capable of producing
such a wonderful being as man cannot but, when pro-
perly conserved, be transmuted into matchless energy

* The most illustrious example ofc this in European history is
perhaps afforded by Ezenobia, the queen of Palmyra, equally re-
nowned for her beauty and valour, about whom Gibbon has ob-
served: "She never admitted her husband's embraces but for the
sake of posterity. If her hopes were baffled, in the ensuing month
she reiterated the experiment." Pyarelal

THE CAUSE OF IT 107

and strength. Anyone can test for himself the truth of
this observation of the shastras for himself by personal
experience. And the rule holds good in respect of
woman no less than man. The real difficulty, however,
Is that we vainly expect to be free from outward ni-
festations of lust, while harbouring it in our minds, with
the result that physically and mentally we become utter
wrecks, and our lives, in the words of the Gita* become
a living lie or hypocrisy personified.

Hanjan 20-3 1937.

20

THE CAUSE OF IT
A Bangalore correspondent asks:

" You say that a married couple may have sexual union
only when there is a mutual desire for a child and on no other
account. Please let me know why one should wish for a child
at all. Many people wish for children without fully realizing
the responsibilities of parenthood, and many more wish for
children fully knowing that they are incapable of discharging
the responsibilies of a parent. Many persons who are physically
and mentally unfit for parenthood wish for children. Don't you
think that it is wrong for these persons to procreate?

I should like to know the motive behind the desire for
children. Many people- wish for children to bequeath their
possessions and to break the monotony of their life. A few
people wish for a male child lest the gates of Heaven would
not be opened for them. Are not these people wrong in wish-
ing for a child ? "

It is good to seek causes for things. But it is not
always possible to discover them. The desire for child-
ren is universal. But I do not know any convincing
cause, if to see oneself perpetuated through one's des-
cendants is not a sufficient and convincing cause. My
proposition, however, is not vitiated if the cause I give
for the desire is not found sufficiently convincing. The
desire is there. It seems to be natural. I am not
sorry for having been born. It cannot be unlawful for

108 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

me to see the best in me reproduced. Any way, till I
see evil in procreation itself and till I see that the
sexual act for mere pleasure is justifiable, I must hold
thaU the sexual act is justified only where there is
de*e for children. I understand that this was so clear
to the makers of the Smntis that Manu described only
the first-born as children born of dharma and the rest
of kama lust. The more thought I give to the subject
as dispassionately as is possible, the more convinced I
feel about the correctness of the position I have taken
and am enforcing. It is becoming clearer to me that
the difficulty lies in our ignorance of the subject with
which needless secrecy is being associated. Our
thought is clouded. We dread to face consequences.
We resort to half-measures as if they were perfect or
final and thus render them most difficult of execution.
If our thoughts were clear, if we became sure of our
ground, our speech and action would be firm.

Thus, if I am sure that every morsel of food I take
is for building and sustaining the body, I shall never
desire to take food for the pleasure of the palate. I shall
further realize that if I have any desire to eat things
because they are tasty, and apart from hunger or the
thought of sustaining the body, it is a token of disease
and I should seek to cure myself of it and not satisfy it
as if it was lawful or healthy. Even so if I am quite clear
that the sexual act, apart from the unquestioned desire
from progeny, is unlawful and detrimental to the body,
mind and soul, surely resistance to the desire will
become easy far easier, than when I am not clear
whether the gratification of mere desire is or is not
lawful and beneficial. If I am quite clear about the un-
lawfulness of the desire, I shall treat it as if it were a
disease and repel its attacks with all my vigour. I shall
feel the stronger for the resistance. They are wrong,
even untruthful, who claim that they do not like the act
but are helpless and therefore resistance leaves them
weak and defeated. If all such people were to examine
themselves, they would discover that their thoughts

FOR CONTRACEPTIVES 109

deceive them. Their thoughts cherish the desire, and
their speech is a false interpreter of their thoughts. If
on the other hand the speech is a true interpreter of
the thoughts, there can be no such thing as weakness.
Defeat there may be. Weakness never.

The correspondent's objection to procreation by
unhealthy parents is perfectly valid. They can have or
should have no desire for progeny. They are deceiving
themselves and the world if they say that they perform
the sexual act for progeny. In an examination of any
subject truthfulness is always assumed. Desire for
progeny must not be feigned in order to cover the
pleasure of sexual union.

Harijan, 24-1-1937

21
FOR CONTRACEPTIVES

A correspondent writes :

"I would like to say a few words on the report of the inter-
view between Mrs. Sanger and Mahatma Gandhi that appeared
recently in the Harijan.

"The cardinal fact that I see missed in the interview is that
it has not been taken into consideration that man is above all
an artist and a creator. He is not satisfied with bare necessity,
but must have beauty, colour and charm as well If ye have one
pice only, buy bread of it, if two, one worth of bread and worth
of flower, 1 said Prophet Muhammad. In it is embodied a great
psychological truth the truth that man is by nature an artist.
That is why we find him engaged in making his raiment some-
thing more than the mere necessity of sustaining his body. He
has made every necessity into an art and has spent tons of blood
on them. His creative instinct impels him to add to his difficul-
ties and problems and solve them over again. Ho cannot be
' simple ' as Rousseau, Ruskin, Tolstoy, Thoreau and Gandhiji
would like him to be. War he must have as its necessary corol-
lary which also he has transformed into a great art.

To appeal to him the example of nature would be in vain,
for it is totally incompatible with his very being. ' Nature ' cannot
be his teacher. Those who appeal to it overlook that it does not

110 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

only consist of hills and dales and flower-beds, but flood, cyclone
and earthquake as well. ' From an artistic standpoint', says
Nietzsche the iconoclast, "Nature is no model. It exaggerates,
distorts and leaves gaps. Nature is the accident. To study from
nature ' seems to me a bad sign; thus lying in the dust before
trivial facts is unworthy of a thorough artist. To see what is the
function of another order of intellects, the anti-artistic, the
matter-of-fact, one must know who one is I ' We know that the
wild beasts eat raw flesh out of the need of sustaining their
bodies and not out of taste. We also know of the rutting season
of nature outside which none meets sexually there. But it is, to
quote our philosopher again, unworthy of a thorough artist ' that
man by nature is. To end sexual life when the need of propaga-
tion is no longer there, or to enjoin sex-communion expressly
with the desire of begetting offspring, is too calculating, too
natural, too matter-of-fact * as our philosopher just now said,
to appeal to his strong artistic taste. Hence he has got quite
another aspect of sexual love which is independent of the desire
to multiply as has been revealed by such authorities as Havelock
Ellis and Marie Stopes, but which, though originating in the soul,
is nevertheless incomplete without the bodily union, so long as
we do not get the soul all by itself, but through tne instrument
of the body. To cope with the effect of such a union is altogether
a different problem, and herein is the task of the birth control
movement. But if the task be shifted to a rearrangement of the
soul itself for ' self-control ' is nothing different from this by
external discipline, we are not sanguine that it would prove all
the purposes that are expected of it. Nor would the movement
of control over birth without a firm psychological basis.

I would close with a further remark that by this I do not
mean to underrate the value of the discipline of self-control or
what is technically known as brahmacharya. I would always
admire it as the art of the control of the sex instinct carried to
perfection. But just as the perfection of ether arts does not inter*
fere with the science of life, with the whole life ( in the Nietzschean
sense of the term), with the proper scheme of ail the values of
life, so also I will not allow the value of the ideal of brahma-
charya dominate other values, far less use it as an instrument of
solving problems, such as overpopulation. We have made such
a hobgoblin of iti We have heard of the 'war-babies '. Should
we refuse giving credit to those soldiers who brought victory
for their countrymen by their blood because they happened to
give birth fo those war-babies ? Nobody would. I believe it was
with an eye to such a scheme of values that the scriptures

(STfftqlSferaO said, ' SSH^fa 3% ^ raft W &p& ' ,
or there is brahmacharya where sexual union occurs only at

FOR CONTRACEPTIVES

night ( i. e. as opposed to abnormal cohabitation during the day-
time). Here normal sex life itself is spoken of as faahmacharya,
the rigid conception of which began after we had already
topsy-turvied the proper scheme of all the values of life "

I gladly publish this letter as I should any such letter
that is not full of declamation, abuse or insinuations. The
reader should have both the sides of the question to
enable him to come to a decision. I am myself eager
to know why a thing which is claimed to be scientific
and beneficial and which has many distinguished support-
ers repels me notwithstanding my effort to see the
bright side of it,

Thus it is not proved to my satisfaction that sexual
union in marriage is in itself good and beneficial to the
unionists. To the contrary effect I can bear ample testi-
mony from my own experience and that of many friends.
I am not aware of any of us having derived any benefit,
mental, spiritual or physical. Momentary excitement and
satisfaction there certainly was. But it was invariably
followed by exhaustion. And the desire for union
returned immediately the effect of exhaustion had worn
out. Although I have always been a conscientious worker,
I can clearly recall the fact that this indulgence inter-
fered with my work. It was the consciousness of this
limitation that put me on the track of self-restraint; and
I have no manner of doubt that the self-restraint is res-
ponsible for the comparative freedom from illnesses
that I have enjoyed for long periods and for my output
of energy and work both physical and mental which
eye-witnesses have described as phenomenal.

I fear that the correspondent has misapplied his
reading. Man is undoubtedly an artist and creator.
Undoubtedly he must have beauty and therefore colour.
His artistic and creative nature at its best taught him to
see art in self-restraint and ugliness in un-creative union.
His instinct for the artistic taught him to discriminate
and to know that any conglomeration of colours was no
mark of beauty, nor every sense enjoyment good in
itself. His eye for art taught man to seek enjoyment in

112 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

usefulness. Thus he learnt at an early stage of his evolu-
tion that he was to eat not for its own sake as some of
us still do, but that he should eat to enable him to live.
At a later stage he learnt further that there was neither
beauty nor joy in living for its own sake, but that he
must live to serve his fellow-creatures and through them
his Maker. Similarly, when he pondered over the
phenomenon of the pleasurableness of sexual union, he
discovered that, like every other organ of sense, this
one of generation had its use and abuse. And he
saw that its true function, its right use was to restrict it
to generation. Any other use he saw, was ugly, and he
saw further that it was fraught with very serious con-
sequences as well to the individual as to the race. It
is hardly necessary for me to prolong the argument.

The correspondent says well that man makes art
out of his necessities. Necessity is not only the mother
of invention, it is the mother also of art. We should
therefore beware of that art which has not necessity as
its basis.

Nor may we dignify every want by the name of
necessity. Man's estate is one of probation. During
that period he is played upon by evil forces as well as
good. He is ever prey to temptations. He has to
prove his manliness by resisting and fighting temptations.
He is no warrior who fights outside foes of his imagi-
nation and is powerless to lift his little finger against
the innumerable foes within or, what is worse, mistakes
them for friends. "War he must have ". But the cor-
respondent is wrong when he says that ' as its neces-
sary corollary he has transformed it into a great art. 11
He has hardly yet learnt the art of war. He has mis-
taken false war for true, even as our forefathers, under
a mistaken view of sacrifice, instead of sacrificing their
base passions, sacrificed innocent non-human fellow
creatures as many do even at the present day. We
have yet to learn the art of true war. Surely there is
neither beauty nor art in what is going on today on the

FOR CONTRACEPTIVES 113

Abyssinian frontier. The correspondent has chosen un-
happy (for him) names for his illustrations. Rousseau,
Ruskin, Thoreau and Tolstoy were first-class artists of
their time. They will live even after many of us are
dead, cremated and forgotten.

The correspondent seems to have misapplied the
word nature. When an appeal to man is made to copy
or study nature, he is not invited to follow what the
reptiles do or even what the king of the forest does.
He has to study man's nature at its best, i,e. I presume
his regenerate nature, whatever it may be. Perhaps it
requires considerable effort to know what regenerate
nature is. It is dangerous nowadays to refer to old
teachers. I suggest to the correspondent that it is un-
necessary to bring in Nietzsche or even Pra^hnopam-
shad. The question for me is past the stage of quota-
tions. What has cold reason to say on the point under
discussion? Is it or is it not correct to say that the
only right use of the generative organ is to confine it
solely to generation and that any other use is its abuse ?
If it is, no difficulty in achieving the right use and
avoiding the wrong should baffle the scientific seeker.

Harnan, 4-4-1936

22
FOR WOMEN REFORMERS

From a serious discussion I had with a sister I fear
that my position on the use of contraceptives has not
yet been sufficiently understood. My opposition is not due
to their having come to us from the West. I thankfully
use some western things when I know that they benefit
us as they benefit those in the West. My opposition to
contraceptives is based on merits.

I take it that the wisest among the protagonists of
contraceptives restrict their use to married women who
desire to satisfy their and their husbands 1 sexual appe-
tite without wanting children. I hold this desire as unnatural
in the human species and its satisfaction detrimental to
the spiritual progress of the human family. As against
this is often cited the following testimony among others
of Lord Dawson of Penn :

" Sex love is one of the clamant, dominating forces of the
world. Here we have an instinct, so fundamental, so imperious
that its influence is a fact which has to be accepted . suppress
it you cannot, You may guide it into healthy channels, but an
outlet it will have, and if that outlet is inadequate or unduly
obstructed, irregular channels will be forced. Self-control has a
breaking point, and if in any community marriage is difficult or
late of attainment, an increase of irregular unions will inevitably
result All are agreed that union of body should be in association
with union of mind and soul, all are agreed that the rearing of
children is a pre-eminent purpose. Has not sexual union
over and over again been the physical expression of our love
without thought or intention of procreation ? Have we all been
wrong ? Or is it that the Church lacks that vital contact with the
realities of life which accounts for the gulf between her and the
people? Authority, and I include under authority the churches,
will never gam the allegiance of the young unless their attitude
is more frank, more courageous, and more in accordance with
realities

Sex love has, apart trom parenthood, a purport of its own
It is an essential part of health and happiness in marriage. If
sexual union is a gift from God, it is woith learning how to use
it. Within its own sphere it should be cultivated so as to bring
physical satisfaction to both, not merely to one The attainment
of mutual and reciprocal joy :n their relations constitutes a firm

FOR WOMEN REFORMERS 115

bond between two people and make for durability of their
marriage tie. More marriages fail from inadequate and clumsy
sex love than from too much sex love. Passion is a worthy
possession; most men who are any good are capable of passion.
Sex love without passion is a poor lifeless thing. Sensuality en
the other hand is on a level with gluttony, a physical excess.
Now that the revision of the Prayer Book is receiving consi-
deration. I should like to suggest, with great respect, that an
addition be made to the objects of marriage in the Marriage
Service in these terms : ' The complete realization of the love
of this man and this woman, the one for the other.'

I will pass on to consider the all-important question of
birth control Birth control is here to stay. It is an established
fact, and for good or evil has to be accepted, No denuncia-
tions will abolish it. The reasons which lead parents to limit
their offspring are sometimes selfish, but more often honourable
and cogent. The desire to marry and to rear children well-
equipped for life's struggle, limited incomes, the cost of living,
burdensome taxation, are forcible motives, and, further, amongst
the educated classes there is the desire ot women to take part
in life and their husbands' careers, which is incompatible with
olt-recurring pregnancies. Absence of birth control means late
marriages, and these carry with them irregular unions and all
the baneful consequences. It is idle to decry illicit intercourse
and interpose obstacles to marriage at one and the same time.
But say many, ' Birth control may be necessary, but the only
control which is justifiable is voluntary abstention. ' Such absten-
tion would be either ineffective or, if effective, impracticable
and harmful to health and happiness. To limit the size of a
family to, say, lour children, would be to impose on a married
couple an amount of abstention which for long periods would
almost be equivalent to celibacy, and v/hen one remembers that
owing to economic reasons the abstention would have to be
most strict during the earlier years of marriage life when desires
are strongest, I maintain a demand is being made which, for the
mass of people, It is impossible to meet, that the endeavours
to meet it would impose a strain hostile to health and happiness
and carry witn them grave dangers to morals The thing is
preposterous. You might as well put v/ater by the side of a man
suffering from thirst and tell him not to drink it. No, birth con-
trol by abstention is either ineffective, cr, if erfcctive, is
pernicious.

It is said to be unnatural and intrinsically immoral Civiliza-
tion involves the chaining nf natural forces and their conversion
to man's w*ll and uses. Wnen anaesthetics v/ere first used at
child oirth there was an outcry that their use was unnatural

116 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

and wicked, because God meant woman to suffer. It is no more

unnatural to control child-birth by artificial means. The use of

birth control is good, its abuse bad. May 1 end by an appeal

that the Church approach this question, in common with certain

others, in the light of modern knowledge and the needs of a

t new world, and unhampered by traditions which have outworn

* their usefulness? "

Lord Dawson's eminence is not to be denied. But
with all due respect to his greatness as a physician, I
am tempted to question the value of his evidence,
specially when it is pitted against the experience of
men and women who have lived a life of continence
without suffering any moral or physical harm. Physi-
cians generally come across those who have so defied
laws of health that they have contracted some illness.
They, therefore, often successfully prescribe what suffer-
ers should do to become well, but they cannot always
know what healthy men and women can do in any
particular direction. Lord Dawson's evidence, there-
fore, about the effect of continence on married people
has to be taken with the greatest caution. Mo doubt
the tendency among married people is to rec ard sex-
ual satisfaction for itself as legitimate. But in the
modern ,age in which nothing is taken for gran-ed and
everything is rightly scrutinized, it is surely wrong to
take it for granted that, because we have hit! erto in-
dulged in the sexual appetite in married life, the prac-
tice is either legitimate or healthy. Many old practices
have been discontinued with good results. Why should
this particular practice be exempt from examination,
especially in the light of the experience of those who,
even as married men and jvomen, are living a life of
restraint with mutual benefit both physical and moral?
But I object to contraceptives also on special grounds
in India. Young men in India do not know what sex-
ual restraint is. It is not their fault. They are married
early. It is the custom. Nobody tells them to exercise
restraint in married life. Parents are impatie/ii to see
grandchildren. The poor girl wives are expected by
their surroundings to bear children as fast as they can.

FOR WOMEN REFORMERS 117

In such surroundings, the use of contraceptives can only
further aggravate the mischief. The poor girls who
are expected to submit to their husbands 1 desires are
now to be taught that it is a good thing to desire sex-
ual satisfaction without the desire to have children.
And in order to fulfil the double purpose they are to
have recourse to contraceptives ! ! ! )

I regard this to be the most pernicious education
for married women. I do not believe that woman is
prey to sexual desire to the same extent as man. It
is easier for her than for man to exercise self-restraint.
I hold that the right education in this country is to
teach woman the art of saying no even to her husband,
to teach her that it is no part of her duty to become a
mere tool or a doll in her husband's hands. She has
rights as well as duties. Those who see in Sita a will-
ing slave under Rama do not realize the loftiness of
either her independence or Rama's consideration for
her in everything. Sita was no helpless weak woman
incapable of protecting herself or her honour. To ask
India's women to take to contraceptives is, to say the
least, putting the cart before the horse. The first thing
is to free her from mental slavery, to teach her sac-
redness of her body, and to teach her dignity of
national service and the service of humanity. It is not
fair to assume that India's women are beyond redemp-
tion, and that they have therefore to be simply taught
the use of contraceptives for the sake of preventing
births and preserving such health as they may be in
possession of.

Let not the sisters who are rightly indignant over
the miseries of women who are called upon to bear
children, whether they will or no, be impatient. Not
even the propaganda in favour of contraceptives is go-
ing to promote the desired end overnight. Every
method is a matter of education. My plea is for the
right type.

Hanian, 2-5-1936.

23
SELF-CONTROL AGAIN

"Your recent articles on self-control have created quite a
stir. Persons who are in sympathy with your views find it diffi-
cult to exercise self-control for any length of time. They argue
that you are applying your own experience and practice to the
whole mankind. And even you have admitted that .you do not
fulfil the definition of a complete Brahmachan. For you yourself
are not free from animal passion. And since you admit the
necessity of limiting the number of children a married
couple may have, the use of contraceptives is the only practical
method open to the vast majority of mankind. "

Thus writes a correspondent.

I have admitted my own limitations. In this matter
of self-control v. contraceptives, they constitute my
qualifications. For my limitations show quite clearly that
I am like the majority of earth earthy and can have no
pretensions to any extraordinary gifts. The motive for
my self-control yras also quite ordinary, viz. the desire
to limit the progeny for the purpose of serving the
country or humanity. Inability to support a large family
should be a greater incentive than the very distant one
of serving one's country or humanity. That in spite of
thirtyfive years of successful (from the present stand-
point ) self-control, the animal in me still needs watching,
shows in an eminent degree that I am very much an
ordinary mortal. I therefore do suggest that what has
been possible for me is possible for any human being
who would make the required effort.

My quarrel with the advocates of contraceptives lies
in their taking it for granted that ordinary mortals cannot
exercise self-control. Some of them even go so far as
to say that even if they can, they ought not to do so.
To them, no matter how eminent they may be in their
own spheres, I say, in all humility but with utmost con-
fidence, that they are talking without experience of the
possibilities of self-control. They have no right to limit
the capacity of the human soul. In such instances the
positive evidence of one person like me, if it is reliable,

SELF-CONTROC AGAIN

is not only of greater value but decisive. To dismiss
my evidence as useless because I am popularly regarded
as a ' Mahatma ', is not proper in a serious inquiry.

Far more weighty is the argument of a sister who
says in effect: "We, the advocates of contraceptives,
have come on the scene only recently. You self-control-
lers had the field all to yourselves all these long
generations, maybe thousands of years. What have
you to show to your credit ? Has the world learnt the
lesson of self-control ? What have you done to stop the
misery of overburdened families ? Have you heard the
cry of wounded motherhood ? Come, the field is even
now open to you. We do not mind your advocacy of
self-control. We may even wish you success, if perchance
you save wives frdm the unwanted approaches of their
husbands. But why should you seek to decry the methods
which We employ, and which take note of, and make
every allowance for common human ^weaknesses or
habits, and which when properly employed almost
never fail to accomplish their purpose?"

The taunt is dictated by the anguish of a sister
filled with compassion for the families that are always
in want because of the ever-increasing number of
children. The appeal of human misery has been known
to melt hearts of stone. How can it fail to effect high-
souled sisters ? But such appeals may easily lead one
astray, if one is lifted off one's feet and, like a drown-
ing man, catches any floating straw.

We are living in times when values are undergoing
quick changes. We are not satisfied with slow results.
We are not satisfied with the welfare merely of our
own caste-fellows, not even of our own country. We
feel or want to feel for the whole of humanity. All this
is a tremendous gain in humanity's march towards
its goal.

But we won't find the remedy for human ills by
losing patience and by rejecting everything that is old
because it is old. Our ancestors also dreamt, perhaps
vaguely, the same dreams that fire us with zeal. The

120 SELF-RESTRAINT K SELF-INDULGENCE

remedies they applied for similar ills, it is possible, are
applicable even to the horizon that appears to have
widened beyond expectations.

And my plea based on positive experience is that
even as truth and ahimsa are not merely for the chosen
few but for the whole of humanity to be practised in
daily life, so exactly is self-control not merely for a
few Mahatmas ' but for the whole of humanity. And
even as, because many people will be untruthful and
violent, humanity may not lower its standard, so also,
though many, even the majority, may not respond to the
message of self control, we may not lower our standard.

A wise judge will not give a wrong decision in the
face of a hard case. He will allow himself to appear
to have hardened his heart because he knows that
truest mercy lies in not making bad law.

We may not attribute the weaknesses of the perish-
able body or the flesh to the imperishable soul that
resides in it. We have to regulate the body in the
light of the laws that govern the soul. In my humble
opinion, these laws are few and unchangeable, capable
of being understood and followed by the whole of the
human family. There would be differences of degree
but not of kind in their application. If we have faith,
we won f t lose it, because it may take a million years
before humanity realizes or makes the nearest or visi-
ble approach to its goal. In Jawaharlal's language, 1st
us have the correct ideology.

The sister's challenge, however, remains to be
answered. The 'self-controllers 41 are not idle. They
are carrying on their propaganda. If their method is
different in kind from the method of contraceptives, so
is and must be their propaganda. ' Self-controllers f do
not need clinics. They cannot advertize their cure for
the simple reason that it is not an article to be sold or
given. But their criticism of contraceptives and warn-
ng to the people against their use is part of their pro-
paganda. The constructive side has always been there,
but naturally in an unfelt and unseen manner. Advocacy

BIRTH CONTROL THROUGH SELF-CONTROL 121

of self-control has never been suspended. The most
effective is that of example. The larger the number
of honest persons who practise successful self-control,
the more effective becomes the propaganda.

Hanjan. 30-5-1936

24

BIRTH CONTROL THROUGH
SELF-CONTROL

The following letter has been lying on my file for
a considerable time :

' ' The craze fo? birth control is today sweeping all over the
world, and India is no exception. I have been closely following
your articles in support of self-conrol in which I believe. Recently
a ' Birth Control League ' has been started in Ahmedabad. It
advocates the use of modern contraceptive appliances to enable
men and women to practise unlimited self-indulgence with
impunity.

It seems to me strange that good people who have them-
selves attained the afternoon of their life should favour a move-
ment which must result in the vitality of the whole race being
drained. How one wishes that instead of a ' Birth Control League '
these friends had set up a ' Self-Control League ' for realizing
their goal. I would ask you when you visit Gujarat, to take up
this matter and show the light to the women of Gujarat.

Our doctors and vaidyas today seem to fight shy of taktng
their stand on self-control for fear of losing their bread. They
do not seem to realize that if the new-fangled craze is left to
pursue its course unchecked it will inevitably lead society into
the abyss of self-destruction Only a timely adoption of the
sovereign remedy of self-control can save it from a certain doom.
A wide-spread use of contraceptives will and can only result in
plunging the country into an orgy of self-indulgence and abuse,
with the inevitable consequences of endless disease and misery."

I did not get any chance, during my recent briet
visit to Ahmedabad, to take up the suggestion of this
friend. But it is well-known that I hold strongly to the
views attributed to me. Wherever contraceptive practices
have taken root they have let loose a host of evils which
even he who runs can see. But birth control enthusiasts

122 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

fail to recognize this fact because they hold indulgence
to be in itself good and have persuaded themselves
that the spread of the birth control methods is morally
desirable. 3

I am afraid my correspondent has been led into
exaggeration when he says that the Ahmedabad League
advocates the use of modern contraceptive appliances
to enable men and women to practise unlimited self-in-
dulgence with impunity. But whatever the good motives
of the promoters of the said League might be, their
activity can only result in an aggravation of the evil of
self-indulgence. For, as sure as water runs downhill,
the use of contraceptives must result in the downhill
path of self-indulgence.

Similarly, my correspondent also seems to have done
an injustice to the doctors and raidyas when he ascribes
their failure to inculcate self-control purely to a fear
of losing their bread. The fact is that the medical pro-
fession have so far regarded the subject of self-control
as being outside their, purview. But there are gathering
signs of a coming healthy change in their outlook. The
goal that the medical science has set before itself is the
discovery of the cause and cure of disease. An honest
pursuit of that goal is bound at last to bring it up against
self-indulgence and lack of self-discipline as the prime
cause of many diseases. For, with the advance of know-
ledge and insight, society is bound to insist more and
more on prevention of disease by the removal of the
root causes, rather than its cure alone. Complete eradi-
cation ot disease is an utt^r impossibility unless the
people learn to observe the elementary rule of
self-discipline. The fact is so obvious that its recognition
cannot be long delayed, and with its recognition will
come greater emphasis on the part of the medical pro-
fession on self-discipline and self-control as a factor in
a healthful existence. The Birth Control League of
Ahmedabad should understand that spread of contracep-
tive knowledge and practice can only aid the growth of
self-indulgence and abuse and its inevitable concomitants,

WHAT IT IS LIKE 123

misery and disease. I would therefore earnestly
suggest to the promoters of the, said League that if
they will only utilize tKeir time and energy to study
deeply the evils of self-indulgence and inculcate upon
the women the necessity and naturalness of practising
self-control as a means of attaining birth control, they
will find that they have discovered the best and quickest
method of realizing their goal.

n, 12-12-1936

25

WHAT IT IS LIKE

The recent debate between Dr. Sokhey and Dr.
Mangaldas Mehta on the. evergreen topic, of birth control
emboldens me to disclose the opinion of the late Dr.
Ansari of revered memory supporting Dr. Mangaldas 1 s
position. It was now nearly a year ago, I wrote to the
deceased asking him whether as a medical man, he
could endorse the position I had taken up on the vexed
question. Much to my agreeable surprise he wrote
heartily supporting it. When I was in Delhi last, I had
a brief discussion with him on the subject, and he
promised at my request to contribute a series of articles
shewing by facts and figures from his own experience
and that of other medical men, how the practice had
hurt both men ajid women who were party to it. He
gave a graphic account of the condition to which the
men were reduced after they had mated for some time
with their wives or other women who, they knew, were
using contraceptives. Freedom from the fear of the
natural consequence of condition had made them reckless
in self-indulgence leading to an inordinate craving for
seeing women which ended in dementia. Alas ! he died
just when he was about to write the promised series.

Bernard Shaw is reported to have said that coition
accompanied by the case of contraceptives was nothing

124 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

less than sexual masturbation. A moment's reflection
would show how accurate the description is.

I receive almost daily piteous letters from students
and sometimes even from teachers complaining how
they had become slaves to the habit and were being
gradually reduced to loss of manhood. Recall, too, the
correspondence published in these columns from the
Principal of the Sanatan Dharma College, Lahore,* bitterly
complaining of teachers practising unnatural vice on
their pupils and the consequences of the practices on
their health and character. The deduction I draw from
these examples is that even the union between husband
and wife bereft of the possibility of its natural consequence
must cause the same ruination that invariably attends
masturbation or unnatural vice.

It is the philanthropic motive that no doubt impels
many birth control reformers to a whirlwind campaign
in favour of the use of contraceptives. I invite them to
contemplate the ruinous consequences of their misplaced
philanthropy. Those whom they want to reach will never
use them in any appreciable numbers. Those who ought
not to use them will, without doubt, use them to the
undoing of themselves and their partners. This would
not matter in the least, if the use of contraceptives was
incontestably proved to be right physically and morally.
Dr. Ansari's opinion, if my testimony about it is accepted,
is a grave warning to the reformers and would-be
reformers.

Hanjan, 12-9-1936

* See Chapters" XXX and XXXI of this book.

26
A WITNESS FROM AMERICA

Miss Mabel E. Simpson of Montana ( U. S. A. ) writes
to the Editor :

" I wish to express my appreciation of your publication.
What it lacks in size it rrore than makes up in quality I greatly
enjoyed Mr. Gandhi's article on biith control displaying his
usual clear sight into the heart of things. If he had visited
America twenty years ac/o when birth control was disapproved
and now when it is in full swing, he would know that it brings
moral deterioration. But he would not be able to convince any-
body of it. for it also brings a blindness to both moral and
spiritual perception that makes it impossible for its followers
to discern with sensitivity along high moral and spiritual lines.
If India follows the West in this, she will surely lose two of her
most priceless and beautiful jewels : affection for little children
and reverence for parenthood. America has lost both and does
not know it. Could you print a statement of the meanirg of
brahmacharya ? I have been asked about it, and while I have
an idea I am not sure enough to attempt to explain it to others
Thank you "

The reader may place what value he or she chooses
on this piece of evidence. I suggest, however, that such
evidence against the use of contraceptives is worth far
more than that of those who claim to derive benefit from
their use. The reason is obvious. The benefit in the
sense that advent of children Is often checked is not
denied. What is contended is that the moral harm the
use does is incalculable. Miss Simpson has given us a
measure of such harm.

Now for the definition the meaning --of brahma-
chaiya. Its root meaning may be given thus : that conduct
which puts one in touch with God.

The conduct consists in the fullest control over all
the senses. This is the true and relevant meaning of the
word.

Popularly it has come to mean mere physical control
over the organ of generation. This narrow meaning has
debased brahmacharya and made its practice all but
impossible. Control over the orgon of generation is

126 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

impossible without proper control over all the senses.
They are all interdependent. Mind on the lower plane
is included in the senses. Without control over the mind
mere physical control, even if it can be attained for a
time, is of little or no use.

Hanjan, 13-6-1936

27 '
' A VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS '

11 Just lately I read a review of your conference with Mrs.
Sanger, the birth control advocate. I was so deeply moved that
I am writing you to express my appreciation for your stand. God
bless you for your courage.

For the past thirty years I have been teaching boys. I have
always advocated the control of the body, and urged boys to
live unselfishly.

When Mrs. Sanger was in my neighbourhood, the high
school boys and girls took advantage of the information to
carry on their illicit intercourse with no fear of results. Should
Mrs. Sanger have her way, the time would come when the whole
world would seek the sensual and love would die. I realize it
will take centuries to educate the public to higher ideals, but
there is no time like the present to begin. I fear she mistakes
passion for love, for love is of the spirit and never born of lust.

Dr. Alexis Carrel agrees with you, in that sex control is not
harmful except to those who feed their passions and are already
unbalanced. Mrs. Sanger is wrong in saying that most doctors
believe abstinence is harmful. I find many leading doctors and
scientists belonging tc the American Social Hygiene Association
hold that control is beneficial.

You are doing a noble work. I have followed with interest
all the vicissitudes of your long life struggle. You are one of
the few who have this higher spiritual viewpoint on the sex
question. I want you to know I reach out to you across the
great waters in fellowship.

Let us keep up the good work so that youth may know the
truth, for the hope of the future is in their hands.

I add a quotation from one of my talks to boys :

1 Create always create. To creats is noble, uplifting,
inspiring. But the moment you seek to gratify the senses by
merely enjoying the creative powers, you begin to cheat creation
and to destroy all those higher spiritual forces within you. It
can end only in disappointment.

1 A VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS ' 127

1 Creation, physical, mental and spiritual, is joy and life. If
you are merely seeking the sensations of the flesh with no
thought of creating, or even trying to avoid the aim of creation,
you are perverting nature and killing your spiritual powers

* The result will be passion, uncontrolled, exhaustion,
disappointment and defeat. It can never bring out those finer
qualities on which we can build a new race of spiritual men
and women. '

1 know this is like a prophet crying in the wilderness, but
I am convinced of the truth of it, and I can but point the way."

This is one of the letters which I occasionally get
from America in condemnation of the use of contracep-
tives. Current literature that India imports weekly from
the Far West would have us believe that in America
none but idiots and imbeciles oppose the use of this
modern method of deliverance from the bondage of the
superstition which imprisons the body and crushes it by
denying it its supreme enjoyment. That literature produces
as much momentary intoxication as the act which it
teaches and incites us to perform without incurring the
risk of its ordinary result. I do not put before the readers
of Hanjan merely letters of individual condemnation
received from the West. They have their use for me
as a seeker but very little for the general reader. This
letter, however, from a teacher of boys with thirty years'
experience behind him has a definite value. It should
serve as a guide for Indian teachers and the public
men and women who are carried away by the over-
whelming tide. The use of contraceptives is infinitely
more tempting than the whisky bottle. But it is no more
lawful than the sparkling liquid for its fatal temptation.
Nor can opposition to the use of either be given up in
despair because their use seems to be growing. If
the opponents have faith in their mission, it has to be
pursued. A voice in the wilderness has a potency
which voices uttered in the midst of ' the madding
crowd ' lack. For the voice in the wilderness has medi-
tation, deliberation and unquenchable faith behind it,
whilst the babel of voices has generally nothing but the
backing of the experience of personal enjoyment or the

128 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

false and sentimental pity for the unwanted children and
their suffering mothers. Argument of personal experience
has as much weight as an act of a drunkard. The
argument of pity is a trap into which it is dangerous to
fall. Sufferings of unwanted children and of equally
unwanted motherhood are punishments or warnings
devised by beneficent nature. Disregard of the law of
discipline and restraint is suicide. Ours is a state of
probation. If we refuse to bear the yoke of discipline,
we court failure like cowards, we avoid battle and give
up the only joy of living.

Hanjan, 27-3-1937

28
WONDERFUL IF TRUE

During our morning and evening walks, Khansaheb
Abdul Gaffar Khan and I often talk on matters of common
interest. Having travelled in the frontier territories as far
as Kabul and beyond and knowing the frontier tribes
well, he often describes to me the habits and customs
of these simple folk. He tells me that these tribesmen
who are untouched by the so-called civilization live
principally on maize and barley bread and lentils sup-
plemented at times by buttermilk. They get meat but
rarely. The only way I could account for their well-known
hardiness was their open-air life and invigorating climate.
Khansaheb promptly added, " That is not enough. The
secret of their strength lies in their chaste lives. They
marry, both men and women, after full maturity. Unfaith-
fulness, adultery or unmarried love are practically un-
known. Union out of wedlock is punishable by death,
The injured party has the right to take the life of the
wrong-doer. 11

If this chastity is so universal as Khansaheb describes
it, it furnishes us in India a lesson that we should take
to heart. I suggested. to Khansaheb that if the fine phy-
sique of the tribesmen was largely due to their continence,

WONDERFUL IF TRUE 129

there must be perfect co-operation between the mind and
the body. For if the mind hankered after satisfaction of
the flesh and the body resisted, there must be tremendous
waste of vital energy leaving the body thoroughly ex-
hausted. Khansaheb agreed that that was a fair deduction
and that, so far as he was able to judge, he felt that the
tribesmen were so habituated to continence outside
marriage that young men and women never seemed to
desire sexual satisfaction outside marriage. Khansaheb
also told me tiiat the women in the tribal areas never
observed the purdah, there was no false prudery
there, the women were fearless, roamed about anywhere
freely, were well able to take care of themselves and
defend their honour without seeking or needing male
protection.

Khansaheb, however, admits that this continence not
being based on reason or enlightened faith breaks down
when these men and women of the hills come in contact
with civilized or soft life where departure from the
custom carries no punishment and public opinion looks
upon unfaithfulness and adultery with more or less
indifference. This opens up reflections which I must not
discuss just now. My purpose in writing this just now
is to seek corroboration and further light from
those who know these tribesmen as Khansaheb does,
and to suggest to young men and women of the plains
that observance of continence, if it is really natural to
the tribesmen, as Khansaheb thinks it is, should be
equally natural to us, if only we would inhabit our thought
world with the right kind of thoughts and deal summarily
with the intruders. Indeed if the right kind settle down
in sufficiently large numbers, the intruders will be crowded
out, no doubt. The process requires courage. But self-
restraint never accrues to the faint-hearted. It is the
beautiful fruit of watchfulness and ceaseless effort in the
form of prayer and fasting. The prayer is not vain repetition
nor fasting mere starvation of the body. Prayer has to
come from the heart which knows God by faith, and
fasting is abstinence from evil or injurious thought, activity

130 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

or food. Starvation of the body when the mind thinks of
a multiplicity of dishes is worse than useless.

Hanjan, 10-4-1937.

29

SEXUAL PERVERSION

Some years ago the Bihar Government in its Education
Department had an inquiry into the question of unnatural
vice in its schools, and the Committee of Inquiry had
found the existence of the vice even among teachers who
were abusing their position among their boys in order
to satisfy their unnatural lust. The Director of Education
had issued a circular prescribing departmental action on
such vice being found to exist in connection with any
teacher. It would be interesting to know the results, if
any, issuing from the circular.

I have had .literature too sent to me from other pro-
vinces inviting my attention to such vice and showing
that it was on the increase practically all over India in
public as well as private schools. Personal letters -received
from boys have confirmed the information.

Unnatural though the vice is, it has come down to us
from times immemorial. The remedy for all secret vice
is most difficult to find. And it becomes still more difficult
when it affects guardians of boys which the teachers are.
1 If the salt loses its savour, wherewith shall it be salted ? '
In my opinion departmental action, necessary as it is in
all proved cases, can hardly meet the case. The levelling
of public opinion alone can cope with the evil. But in
most matters there is no such thing as effective public
opinion in this country. The feeling of helplessness that
pervades political life has affected all other departments.
We therefore pass by many a wrong that is being per-
petrated in front of us.

A system of education that puts an exclusive emphasis
on literary equipment, not only is ill-adapted to deal
with the evil but actually .results in promoting it. Boys

SEXUAL PERVERSION 131

who were clean before they went to public schools have
been found to have become unclean, effeminate and
imbecile at the end of their school course. The Bihar
Committee has recommended the ' instilling into the
minds of boys a reverence for religion '. But who is to
bell the cat? The teachers alone can teach reverence
for religion. But they themselves have none. It is
therefore a question of a proper selection of teachers.
But a proper selection of teachers means either a
much higher pay than is now given, or reversion
to teaching not as a career but as a life-long dedication
to a sacred duty. This is in vogue even today among
Roman Catholics. The first is obviously impossible in a
poor country like ours. The second seems to me to be
the only course left open. But that course is not open to
us under a system of government in which everything
has a price and which is the costliest in the world.

The difficulty of coping with the evil is aggravated
because the parents generally take no interest in the
morals of their children. Their duty is done when they
send them to school. The outlook before us is thus
gloomy. But there is hope in the fact that there is only
one remedy for all evil, viz., general purification. Instead
of being overwhelmed by the magnitude of the evil,
each one of us must do the best one can by the scru-
pulous attention to one's own immediate surroundings,
taking self as the first and the immediate point of attack.
We need not hug the comfort to ourselves that we are
not like other men. Unnatural vice is not an isolated
phenomenon. It is but a violent symptom of the
same disease. If we have impurity within us, if we are
sexually depraved, we must right ourselves before
expecting to reform our neighbours. There is too much
sitting in judgment upon others and too much indulgence
towards self. The result is a vicious circle. Those who
realize the truth of it must get out of it, and they will
find that progress though never easy becomes sensibly
possible.

Young India, 27-6-1929

30
A GROWING VICE ?

The Principal of the Sanatan Dharma College, Lahore,
writes :

" Allow me to request you to peruse the accompanying
newspaper cutting, notices, etc., which speak for themselves.
The Youths' Welfare Association is doing very useful work here
in the Punjab. It has attracted notice in academic and admini-
strative quarters, while it has secured the active interest of
enlightened guardians of boys. Pandit Sitaram Das of Bihar is
the leading spirit of this movement which counts very many
distinguished people here among its patrons.

The evil of juvenile seduction is admittedly more rampant
in the Punjab and N. W. F. Province than elsewhere m India.

May I pray that you will draw the attention of the country
to this canker through a note or letter in the Hamjan or in any
other newspaper ? "

The Secretary of the Youth League wrote to me long
ago on this very delicate subject. On receiving his letter
I entered into correspondence with Dr. Gopichand who
confirmed the statements made in the League Secre-
tary's letter. But I could not see my way clear to discuss-
ing the problem in these columns or elsewhere. I had
known of the evil but was not sure that a newspaper
discussion could deal with it to any purpose. Nor am I
sure now. But I may not resist the appeal of the Princi-
pal of the College.

The vice is not new. It is wide-spread. As it is
necessarily kept secret, it is not possible to detect it
easily. It goes hand in hand with easy life. In the case
referred to by the Principal, the teachers are alleged
to be the corruptors of their own wards. 'When the
salt loses its savour wherewith shall it be salted? '

This is a matter which no Commission, no Govern-
ment can deal with successfully. It is the function of the
moral reformer. The parents have to be awakened to
a sense of their responsibility. The students should be
brought in close touch with clean life. The idea that ethics
and clean living are the foundation of true education,
should be seriously propagated. Trustees of educational
institutions have to exercise the greatest care in the

DUTY OF REFORMERS 133

selection of teachers, and having selected them, they
have to see to it that they remain up to the mark. These
are some of the ways in which the awful vice can be
brought under control even if it cannot be eradicated.

Haruan. 27-4-1935

31

DUTY OF REFORMERS

I gladly publish the following letter from the Principal,
Sauatan Dharma College, Lahore:

" In all earnestness I beg to draw your attention to the
horror of the atrocities connected with cases of unnatural offence
committed on children.

As you are well aware, very few of these cases are reported
to the police or taken to law courts. Of late there seems to have
been an orgy of such cases in the Punjab. The enclosed news-
paper cuttings, which report only the most flagrant of the very
rare cases that come to law courts, will fully reveal to you the
magnitude of this menace to our young boys and girls. Some
months back daring attempts were made in Lahore by gundas to
abduct little school-boys ^from the very gates of some schools in
broad daylight. Even now special vigilence arrangements are
necessary for them while going to and returning from school.
The circumstances of the assaults narrated in the reports of the
cases tried, are of rare and diabolical cruelty and daring.

The feeling of the public in general is either one of apathy
or of helplessness and lack of self-confidence in the matter of
organized effort to crush these crimes.

The enclosed copy of a circular issued by the Government
of the Punjab will show you how the Government ieel helpness
in the face of the apathy of the public as well as of their
departmental officers. "*

You rightly remarked in your editorial notes in Young India
of the 9th September 1926, and of the 27th June 1929, that the
time was ripe for a public discussion of the subject of sexual
offences of this class, and that only a levelling up of public
opinion all over the country could cope with the evil. The only
effective way to such levelling up of public opinion is publicity
through newspapers.

I submit most respectfully that this is the least that the
horrible situation demands; and I appeal to you to give a lead
to our press by raising your powerful voice for mobilizing an
intensive press campaign against this horror."

134 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

There can be no doubt that there must be a relent-
less war waged against this vice. I have gone through
the gruesoipe reports enclosed with this letter. These
are of a different type from those dealt with by me in
the articles to which the Principal refers. They had
reference to cases exclusively of seduction by teachers.
The reports now sent mostly deal with cases of unnatural
assaults committed by gunias on boys of tender age
and then murdered. Though the cases of unnatural
assaults followed by murder appear more hedious, I
believe that they are more capable of being dealt with
than the cases in which boys become willing victims
of their teachers. Both require incessant vigilance by
the reformer and the rousing of public conscience against
the commission of this disgusting crime. It is the duty
of leaders in the Punjab in which this crime seems to
flourish most, to get together irrespective of race or
creed, and devise methods of protecting the youth of
the land of five rivers from criminals whether as seducers
or ravishers and murderers. It is no use passing resolu-
tions condemning the criminals. All crimes are different
kinds of diseases and they should be treated as such
by the reformers. That does not mean that the police
will suspend their function of regarding such cases as
public crimes, but their measures are never intended
to deal with causes of these social disturbances. To do
so is the special prerogative of the reformer. And
unless the moral tone of society is raised, in spite of
whatever may be written in the newspapers, such crimes
will flourish, if only for the simpfle reason that the moral
sense of these perverts has become blunt and they
rarely read newspapers, especially those portions which
contain fervent exhortation against such vices. The only
effective way I can conceive of, therefore, is for some
enthusiastic reformers like the Principal of the Sanatan
Dharma College, if he is one, to gather together other
reformers and take concerted measure to deal with
the evil,

Haujan, 19-10-1935

32
FOR THE YOUNG

It is the fashion in some quarters nowadays for the
young to discredit whatever may be said by old people.
I am not prepared to say that there is absolutely no
justification for this belief. But I warn the youth of
the contry against always discounting whatever old men
or women may say, for the mere fact that it is said by
such persons. Even as wisdom often comes from the
mouths of babes, so does it often come from the mouths
of old people. The golden rule is to test everything in
the light of reason and experience, no matter from whom
it comes. I want to revert to the subject of birth control
by contraceptives. It is dinned into one's ears that
gratification of the sex urge is a solemn obligation like
the obligation of discharging debts lawfully incurred,
and that, not to do so would involve the penalty of
intellectual decay. This sex urge has been isolated from
the desire for progeny, and it is said by the protagonists
of the use of contraceptives that conception is an
accident to be prevented except when the parties
desire to have children. I venture to suggest that this
is a most dangerous doctrine to preach anywhere, 1 much
more so in a country like India where the middle class
male populatfon has become imbecile through abuse of
the creative function. If satisfaction of the sex urge is a
duty, the unnatural vice of which I wrote some time ago
and several other ways of gratification would be com-
mendable. The reader should know that even persons of
note have been known to approve of what is commonly
known as sexual perversion. He may be shocked at the
statement. But if it somehow or other gains the stamp
of respectability, it will be the rage among boys and
girls to satisfy their urge among members of their own
sex. For me the use of contraceptives is not far removed
from the means to which persons have hitherto resorted
for the gratification of their sexual desire with the

136 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

results that very few know. I know what havoc secret
vice has played among school boys and school
girls. The introduction of contraceptives under the
name of science and the imprimatur of known leaders
of society have intensified the complication and made the
task of reformers who work for purity of social life, well-
nigh impossible for the moment. I betrary no confidence
when I inform the reader that there are unmarried girls
of impressionable age studying in schools and colleges
who study birth control literature and magazines with
avidity and even possess contraceptives. It is impossible
to confine their use to married women. Marriage loses
its sanctity when its purpose and highest use is conceived
to be the satisfaction of the animal passion without
contemplating the natural result of such satisfaction.

I have no doubt that those learned men and women
who are carrying on propaganda with missionary zeal
in favour of the use of contraceptives, are doing
irreparable harm to the youth of the country under the
false belief that they will be saving thereby, the poor
women who may be obliged to bear children against
their will. Those who need to limit their children will
not be easily reached by them. Our poor women have
not the knowledge or the training that the women of
the West have. Surely the propaganda is not being
carried on on behalf of the middle class women, for
they do not need the knowledge, at any rate so much
as the poor classes do.

The greatest harm, however, done by that prqpaganda
lies in its rejection of the old ideal and substitution in
its place of one which, if carried out, must spell the
moral and physical extinction of the race. The horror
with which ancient literature has regarded the fruitless
use of the vital fluid was not a superstition born of
ignorance. What shall we say of a husbandman who will
sow the finest seed in his possession on stony ground
or of the owner of a field who will receive, in his field
rich with fine soil, good seed under conditions that
will make it impossible for it to grow ? God has blessed

FOR THE YOUNG 137

man with seed that has the highest potency and woman
with a field richer than the richest earth to be found
anywhere on this globe. Surely it is criminal folly for
man to allow his most precious possession to run to
waste. He must guard it with a care greater than he
will bestow upon the richest pearls in his possession.
And so is a woman guilty of criminal folly who will
receive the seed in her life-producing field with the
deliberate intention of letting it run to waste. Both he
and she will be judged guilty of misuse of the talents
given to them and they will be dispossessed of what
they have been given. Sex urge is a fine and noble
thing. There is nothing to be ashamed of in it. But it
is meant only for the act of creation. Any other use of
it is a sin against God and humanity. Contraceptives of
a kind there were before and there will be hereafter;
but the use of them was formerly regarded as sinful.
It was reserved for our generation to glorify vice by
calling it virtue. The greatest disservice protagonists of
contraceptives are rendering to the youth of India is
to fill their minds with what appears to me to be wrong
ideology. Let the young men and women of India who
hold her destiny in their** hands beware of this false god
and guard the treasure with which God has blessed
them and use it, if they wish, for the only purpose for
which it is intended.

Hanjan, 28-3-1936

33

HEADING FOR PROMISCUITY
Thus writes a young man :

"You want everyone to become moral in order to change
the world. I do not exactly know what you mean by morality
whether you confine it to matters sexual, or whether it covers
the wjiole field of human conduct. I suspect the former, because
1 do not see you pointing out to your capitalist and landlord
friends, the great injustice and harm they are doing by making
huge profits at the expense of labourers and tenants, while
you are never tired of castigating young men and women for
their moral lapses in sexual matters and upholding before
them the virtues of celibacy. You claim to know the mind of
Indian youth. 1 do not claim to represent anybody, but as a
solitary young man I beg to challenge your claim. You do not
seem to know through what environment, the modern middle-
class youth is passing, what with long spells of unemployment,
crushing social customs and traditions, and temptations of co-
education 1 It is all a conflict between the old and the new
ideas, resulting usually in the defeat and misery of youth. I
humbly request you to be kind and compassionate to the youth
and not to judge them by your puritanic standards of morality.
After all, I think, every act, when it is performed with mutual
consent and mutual* love, is moral whether it is performed within
marriage or without. Since the, invention of contraceptives the
sexual basis of the institution of marriage has been knocked
down. It has now become an institution mainly for the protection
and welfare of children. You will, perhaps, be shocked at these
ideas I would here venture to ask you not to forget your own
youth when judging the present-day youth. You were an over-
sexed individual given to excessive indulgence, which seems
to have created in you a sort of disgust towards the sexual act,
and hence your asceticism and the idea of sin. Compared to
you, I think many young men of today are better in this respect,"

This is from a typical letter. To my knowledge the
writer has gone through several changes even during
the past three months that I have known him. He is still
passing through a crisis. The extract quoted is from a
long letter which, together with many of his other
writings, he would gladly have me publish. But what I
have quoted just represents the attitude of many a youth.

HEADING FOR PROMISCUITY 139

Of course my sympathies are with young men and
young women. I have a vivid recollection of the days
of my own youth. And it is because of my faith in the
youth of the country that I am never tired of dealing
with problems that face them.

For the morals, ethics and religion are convertible
terms. A moral life without reference to religion is like
a house built upon sand. And religion divorced from
morality is like 'sounding brass 1 good only for making
a noise and breaking heads. Morality includes truth,
ahimta and continence. Every virtue that mankind has
ever practised is referable to and derived from these
three fundamental virtues. Non-violence and continence
are again derivable from Truth, which for me is God.

Without continence a man or woman is undone.
To have no control over the senses is like sailing in a
rudderless ship, bound to break to pieces on coming
in contact with the very first rock. Hence my constant
insistence on continence. My correspondent is right in
saying in effect that the coming in of contraceptives has
changed the ideas about sexual relations. If mutual
consent makes a sexual act moral whether within
marriage or without, and by parity of reasoning, even
between members of the same sex, the whole basis of
sexual morality is gone and nothing but 'misery and
defeat ' awaits the youth of the country. Many young
men and women are to be found in India who would
be glad to be free from the craving for mutual inter-
course in whose grip they find themselves. This craving
is stronger than the strongest intoxicant which has ever
enslaved man. It is futile to hope that the use of
contraceptives will be restricted to the mere regulation
of progeny. There is hope for a decent life only so
long as the sexual act is definitely related to the concep-
tion of precious life. This rules out of court perverted
sexuality and to a lesser degree promiscuity. Divorce
of the sexual act from its natural consequence must
lead to hideous promiscuity and condonation, if not
endorsement, of unnatural vice.

140 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

Since my own experiences are relevant to the
consideration of the sex problem, let me just warn the
reader who has not read my autobiographical chapters
against drawing the conclusion that my correspondent
has drawn about my sins ol indulgence. Whatever
over-indulgence there was with me, it was strictly
restricted to my wife. And I was living in a tf big joint
family where there was hardly any privacy except for
a few hours at night. I awoke to the folly of indulgence
for the sake of it even when I was twentythree years
old, and decided upon total brahmacharya in 1899, i. e.,
when I was thirty years old. It is wrong to call me an
ascetic. The ideals that regulate my life are presented
for acceptance by mankind in general. I have arrived
at them by gradual evolution. Every step was thought
out, well considered, and taken with the greatest
deliberation. Both my continence and non-violence were
derived from personal experience and became necessary
in response to the calls of public duty. The isolated life
I had to lead in South Africa whether as a householder,
legal practitioner, social reformer Or politician, required,
for the due fulfilment of these duties, the strictest
regulation of sexual life and a rigid practice of non-
violence and truth in human relations, whether with my
own countrymen or with the Europeans, I claim to be
no more than an average man with less than average
ability. Nor can I claim any special merit for such non-
violence or continence as I have been able to reach
with laborious research. I have not the shadow of a
doubt that any man or woman can achieve what I have,
if he or she would make the same effort and cultivate
the same hope and faith. Work without faith is like an
attempt to reach the bottom of a bottomless pit.

Hanjan, 3-10-1936

34
A YOUTH'S DIFFICULTY

A correspondent who prefers to remain anonymous
seeks an answer to a question arising out of my article
in Hanjan addressed to the young. Although it is a
sound rule to ignore anonymous correspondence, I do
sometimes make an exception when the question put
is substantial as in the present case.

The letter is in Hindi and is longer than it need
have been. Its purport is :

"From your writing I doubt if you understand the young
mind. What has been possible for you is not possible for all
young men. I happen to be married. I can restrain myself. My
wife cannot. She does not want children, but she does want to
enjoy herseli. What am I to do? Is it not my duty to satisfy her?
I am not generous enough to look upon her satisfying her desire
through other channels. I read from the papers that you are
not averse to promoting marriages and blessing them. Surely
you know or ought to know that they are not contracted with
the high purpose that you have mentioned."

The correspondent is right. The fact that I bless so
many marriages when they satisfy the tests that I have
set as to age, economy, etc., perhaps shows somewhat
that I know the youth of the country to an extent that
would justify my guiding them when they seek my
guidance.

My correspondent's case is typical. He deserves
sympathy. That the sole purpose of sexual connection
is procreation is in the nature of a new discovery for
me. Though I had known the rule, I had never before
given it the weight it deserved. I must have till recently
regarded it as a mere pious wish. I now regard it
as a fundamental law of married state, which is
easy of observance if its paramount importance
is duly recognized. My object will be fulfilled when
the law is given its due place in society. To me it is a
living law. We break it always and pay heavily for its
breach. If my correspondent realizes its inestimable
value and if he has love for his wife and has faith in

142 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

himself, he will convert her to his view. Is he sincere
when he says he can restrain himself? Has" the animal
passion become transmuted in his case into a higher
passion, say, for service of fellow beings ? Does he
naturally refrain from doing anything to excite the
passion in his wife? Let him know that Hindu science
denotes eight kinds of unions which include sexual
suggestions made even by signs. Is the correspondent
free from these ? If he is not, and if he is sincerely
desirous that his wife should be weaned from the sexual
desire, let him surround her with the purest love, let
him explain the law to her, let him explain the physical
effects of union without the desire for procreation, let
him tell her what the vital fluid means. Let him further
engage his wife in healthy pursuits and strive to regulate
her diet, exercise, etc., so as to still the passion in her.
Above all, if he is a man of religion, he will try to
transmit to his companion his own living faith. For, I
must confess that the observance of the law of continence
is impossible without a living faith in God which is
living Truth. It is the fashion nowadays to dismiss God
from life altogether and insist on the possibility of
reaching the highest kind of life without the necessity of
a living faith in a living God. I must confess my inability
to drive the truth of the law home to those who have no
faith in and no need for a Power infinitely higher than
themselves. My own experience has led me to the
knowledge that fullest life is impossible without an
immovable belief in a living Law in obedience to which
the whole universe moves. A man without that faith is
like a drop thrown out of the ocean bound to perish.
Every drop in the ocean shares its majesty and has the
honour of giving us the ozone of life.

Hanian, 25-4-1928,

35
FOR STUDENTS

11 With reference to your note entitled A Student's Difficulty
appearing in the Hainan dated January 9, 1937, I submit the
following in all humility for your kind consideration. I feel you
have not done justice to the student in question. The problem
defies easy solution. Your reply to his question is vague and
general. You ask students to shake off false notions of dignity
and rank themselves among the common labourers. All this
general talk does not carry one far and is certainly not worthy
of a supremely practical man like you. Please consider the
problem at greater length and offer a detailed, practical and
comprehensive solution with special reference to the
following case

I am a student of M A. ( Ancient Indian History } in the
University of Lucknow. I am about 21 years of age. I have a love
for learning and want to do as much of it as possible in my life-
time. I am also inspired by your ideology of life. In about a
month's time when the final M. A. Exminations come off I will
have done with my education, and will have to enter life, as
they say. Besides a wife. I have 4 brothers (all younger, one of
them married), 2 sisters (both below twelve years of age) and
my parents to support. There is no capital to fall back upon.
The landed property 13 very small. What should I do for the
education of the sisters and brothers? Then the sisters will
have to be married sooner rather than later. Above all, where
are the food and clothing to come from? I am not a lover of
the so-called standard of living. I want just a healthy condition
of life, besides* provision for emergencies for myself and for
those who depend on me. It is more or less only a question of
two healthy meals and tidy clothes I want to lead an econo-
mically honest life. I don't want to earn a living by usury or by
selling flesh. I have an ambition for patriotic service also. I am
willing to fulfil your conditions laid down in the note referre'd
to above to the best of my ability. But I do not know what to do I
Where and how to begin? My education has been ruinously
academic, and theoretical. I sometimes think of spinning, your
pet panacea, but then I do not know how to learn it and what
to do with the spun yarn, etc.

Yes, under the circumstances in which I am placed, will you
suggest my adopting contraceptive methods ? I may assure you
I believe in self-control and brahmacharya. But then it wili be
some time before I become a brahmachan. I am afraid unless
I adopt artificial contracptive methods during the period before
the desired consummation of full self-control, I may get children

144 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

and invite economic ruination thereby. And, moreover, I feel
that just now it is not quite proper m the interests of a normally
healthy emotional life of my wife to impose on her a life of
rigorous self-control. After all, sex has its place in the lives of
normal men and women. I am not an exception to it, much less
my wife who has not the equipment to read and understand
your great writings on brahmacharya or dangers of
indulgence, etc.

I regret the letter has been a little too lengthy. But then I
wanted to avoid brevity at the cost of clarity. You are at liberty
to make what use you like of this letter."

Though this letter was received about the end of
February last, I am able to deal with it only now. It
raises issues of great importance, each demanding large
enough space for two columns of Hanjan. But I must
be brief.

The very difficulties the student raises, though serious
in their setting, are of his own making. The very mention
of them must show the falsity of his position and of the
educational system in our country. It turns education
into a purely commercial product to be converted into
money. For me education has a much nobler purpose.
.Let the student count himself as one among the millions,
and he will discover that millions of young men and
women of his age cannot fulfil the conditions which he
will have his degree to do. Why should he make himself
responsible for the maintenance of all the relatives he
mentions ? Why should the grown-up ones, if of sound
body, not labour for their maintenance? It is wrong to
have many drones to one busy bee though a male.

The remedy lies in his unlearning many things. He
must revise his ideas of education. His sisters ought not
to repeat the expensive education that he had. They can
develop their intelligence through lerning some handicraft
in a scientific manner. The moment they do so, they have
development of the mind side by side with that of the
body. And if they will learn to regard themselves as
servants of humanity rather than its exploiters, they will
have development of the heart i. e. the soul as well.
And they will become equal earners of bread with
their brother.

FOR STUDENTS 145

I might as well discuss here his sister's marriage to
which reference has been made in the letter. I do not
know what is meant by marriage taking place 'sooner
rather than later'. In no case need it take place before
they are 20 years old. It is no use thinking so many years
in advance. And if he will revise the whole scheme of
life, he will have the sisters to choose their partners, and
the ceremony need never cost more than five rupees
each, if that. I have been present at several such
ceremonies. And the husbands or their elders have been
graduates in fair circumstances.

It is pathetic to find the student so helpless as not to
know how and where to have spinning lessons. Let him
make a diligent search in Lucknow and he will find that
there are young men enough to teach him. But he need
not confine himself to spinningj though it too is fast
becoming a full-time occupation able to give a village-
minded man or woman his or her livelihood. I hope I
have said here sufficient to enable him to dot the i's
and cross the t's.

And now for contraceptives. Even here, the difficulty
is imaginary. He is wrong in underrating his wife's
intelligence. I have no doubt whatsoever that if she is
the ordinary type of womanhood, she will readily respond
to his self-restraint. Let him be true to himself and ask
himself whether he has enough of it himself. All the
evidence in my possession goes to show that it is man
who lacks the power of self-restraint more than woman.
But there is no need for belittling his own inability to
exercise restraint. He must manfully face the prospect
of a large family and discover the best means of
supporting them. He must know that against the millions
who are strangers to the use of contraceptives, there
are possibly a few thousand who use them. The millions
are in no dread of having to breed their children though
the latter may not all be wanted. I suggest that it is
cowardly to refuse to face the consequences of one's
acts. Persons who use contraceptives will never learn
the virtue of self-restraint. They wilt not n$,ed it.
S-10

146 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

Self-indulgence with contraceptives may prevent the
coming of children but will sap the vitality of both men
and women perhaps more of men than of women. It is
unmanly to refuse battle with the deviO Let my
correspondent resolve upon self-restraint as the only
sure and honourable method of avoiding unwanted
children. What though he and his fail in the effort a
hundred times ? Joy is in the battle. The result comes
by the grace of God.

Hari]an, 17-4-1937

36

A MORAL DILEMMA
A friend writes :

" About two and a half years ago this city was convulsed by
a social tragedy. A Vaidiya gentleman had a sixteen years old
daughter. She had a maternal uncle aged twentyone years
studying in college in the same city. The two fell secretly into
love with each other. The girl is said to have become pregnant.
When the true state of affairs at last became known, the lovers
committed suicide by taking poison, The girl died immediately
but. the boy died a couple of days afterwards in the hospital.
The incident raised a storm of controversy and set all tongues
wagging, so much so that \t became difficult for the bereaved
parents of the hapless girl to dwell in the city. In the course
of time the storm blew over. But the memory of the event still
lingers in the people's minds and is raked up every now and
then, whenever a similar topic arises. At the time when the
storm was at its height and nobody had a. kind word to say about
the deceased unfortunate lovers, I shocked everybody by ex-
pressing my opinion that under the afore-mentioned circumstances
the young lovers ought to have been allowed to have their way.
But mine remained a voice in the wilderness. What is your opinion
in the matter ? "

I have deliberately kept back the name of the
correspondent' and the place at the request of the
writer, as he did not want old sores to be reopened
by a revival of an old controversy. All the same I feel
that a public discussion of this delicate topic is necessary.
In my opinion such marriages as are interdicted in a

A MORAL DILEMMA 147

particular society, cannot be recognized all at once or
at the will of an individual. Nor has society or relatives
of parties concerned any right to impose their will upon,
and forcibly curtail the liberty of action of the . young
people who may want to contract such marriages. In the
instance cited by the correspondent, both the parties had
fully attained maturity. They could well think for them-
selves. No one had a right forcibly to prevent them from
marrying each other if they wanted to. Society could at
the most refuse to recognize the marriage, but it was the
height of tyranny to drive them to suicide.

Marriage taboos are not universal and are largely
based on social usage. The usage varies from province
to province and as between different divisions. This does
not mean that the youth may ride roughshod over all
established social customs and inhibitions. Before they
decide to do so, they must convert public opinion to their
side. In the meantime, the individuals concerned ought
patiently to bide their time or, if they cannot do that
calmly and quietly, to face the consequences of social
ostracism.

At the same time it is equally the duty of society not
to take up a heartless, step-motherly attitude towards
those who might disregard or break" the established
conventions. In the instance described by my corres-
pondent, the guilt of driving the young couple to suicide
certainly rests on the shoulders of society if the version
that is before me is correct.

Haujan. 29-5-2937

37
THE MARRIAGE IDEAL

A friend writes :

"In the current issue of the Hanjan Sevak in your article entitled
'A Moral Dilemma 1 you have observed, 'Many marriage taboos
appear to have grown out of social customs. They are nowhere
seen to rest on any vital, moral or religious principle. My own
instinct based upon my experience tells me that piobably these
taboos were promulgated out of eugenic considerations. It is a
well-known principle of the science of eugenics that the issue
resulting from the crossing of exogamous elements is eugenically
fitter than the product of endogamous unions. That is the reason
why in Hinduism Sagotra (^fq\?|) and Sapmda (gftu^) marriages are
interdicted. On the other hand, if we admit social custom with
all its kaleidoscopic variety and change to be the sole reason
for these taboos, we are left with no strong reason why marriages
bet ween paternal uncle and niece, or for the matter of that, between
brother and sister, should absolutely be tabooed. If, as you say,
the begetting of progeny be the only legitimate object of marriage,
then the choice of partners would become purely a question of
eugenic harmony. Are all other considerations to be ruled out
of court as relatively unimportant ? If not, what should be their
order of precedence ? I would set it down as follows :

(1) Mutual attraction or love;

(2) Eugenic fitness ;

(3) Approval ^nd consent of the respective families concerned;
and consideration for the interest of the social order to which
one belongs;

(4) Spiritual development.
What do you say to it ?

The Hindu shastras have emphatically set down procreation
as the sole end of marriage, as the ancient benediction that is
pronounced upon the prospective housewife by her elders at 'the
time of marriage, viz., 'May you be blessed with eight children' 1
shows. This bears out your contention that cohabitation in marriage
should only be for the purpose of begetting offspring, never
for sensual gratification. But then, would you expect a married
couple to be satisfied with only one offspring irrespective of
whether it is male or female ? Besides the longing to perpetuate
one's line which you have very properly recognized, there also
has existed amongst us, a strong feeling that this can be properly
done only through a male issue. And the birth of a girl, therefore,
is less welcome than that of a boy. In view of this very wide-
spread craving for a male issue, don't you think that your ideal

THE MARRIAGE IDEAL 149

of having only* one offspring should be modified so as to include
the begetting of a male issue in addition to the possible female
ones?

I entirely agree with you that a married person who confines
the sex act strictly to the purpose of procreation, should be
regarded as a brahmachan. I also hold with you that in the case
of a married couple who have practised the rule of purity and
self-control before and after marriage, a single act of union must
lead to v conception. In support of your first point there is in our
shastras the celebrated story of Vishwamitra and Arundhati, the
wife of Vasishtha who, in spite of her one hundred sons, was
greeted by Vishwamitra as a perfect brahmachanm, whose com-
mand even the elements were bound to obey because her con-
nubial relations with her husband were purely directed to the
attainment and discharge of the function of motherhood. But I
doubt whether even the Hindu shastras would support your ideal
of having only one offspring, irrespective of whether it is male
or female. It seems to me, therefore, that if you liberalize your
ideal of married life so as to include the begetting of one male
offspring in addition to the possible female ones, it would go
a long way towards satisfying many married couples. Otherwise,
I am afraid, most people would find it to be harder to limit sexual
relationship to the procreation of the first child and then, irres-
pective of its sex, practise complete abstention for the rest of
life than never to marry at all. I am being slowly forced to the
view that sexuality is man's -primitive nature, self-control is a
cultivated virtue representing a step in his upward evolution
towards religion and spirituality which is the natural law of his
development. That is why self-control has been held in such
high regard. I honour the person who lives up to the ideal of
regarding sexual union only as a means for procreation. I also
agree that coming together under any other circumstance would
be sensual indulgence. But I am not prepared to condemn it as
a heinous sin or to regard a husband and wife who cannot help
their nature as fallen creatures to be treated with cheap pity
or high -brow contempt."

I do not know what the scientific basis for the various
taboos in respect of marriage relationships is. But it seems
to me clear that a social custom or usage that helps the
practice of virtue and self-control, should have the sanctity
of a moral law. if it is eugenic considerations that are at
the root of interdiction of marriages between brother
and sister, then they ought to apply equally to cousin-
marriages. A safe rule of conduct, therefore, would be
as a rule to respect such taboos where they exist in a

150 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

particular society. I accept generally the conditions for
an ideal marriage enumerated by my correspondent.
But I would change their order of importance and put
'love 1 last in the list. By giving it the first place, the
other conditions are liable to be overshadowed by it
altogether and rendered more or less nugatory. There-
fore, spiritual development ought to be given the first
place in the choice for marriage. Service should come
next, family considerations and the interest of the social
order should have the third place, and mutual attraction
or 'love 1 , the fourth and the last place. This means that
4 love 1 alone, where the other three conditions are not
fulfilled, should not be held as a valid reason for
marriage. At the same time, marriage, where there is
no love, should equally be ruled out even though all the
other conditions are fully complied with. I should score
out the condition of eugenic fitness, because the beget-
ting of offspring being the central purpose of marriage,
eugenic fitness cannot be treated merely as a ' condition ';
it is the sine qua non of marriage.

Hindu shastras certainly show a marked bias in
favour of the male offspring. But this originated at a
time when physical warfare was the order of the day
and adequate man-power was a nne qua non of success
in the struggle for existence. The number of sons that
a man had was, therefore, then looked upon as a mark
of virility and strength, and to facilitate the begetting of
numerous offspring, even polygamy was sanctioned and
encouraged. But if we regard marriage as a sacrament,
there is room in it only for one offspring, and that is
why in our shastras the first offspring is described as
*&;!, i. e. ' duty-born', all subsequent issues being
referred to as WTSI, i. e. 'lust-born'. I make no distinc-
tion between son and daughter. Such distinction is, in
my opinion, invidious and wrong. The birth of a son or
a daughter should be welcome alike.

The story of Vishwamitra and Vasishtha is good as
an illustration of the principle that the sexual act,
performed solely for the purpose of begetting offspring

SEX EDUCATION 151

is not inconsistent with the highest ideal of brahmacharya.
But the whole of that story need not be taken literally.
Sexual intercourse for the purpose of carnal satisfaction
is reversion to animality, and it should therefore be
man's endeavour to rise above it. But failure to do so
as between husband and wife, cannot be regarded as a
sin or a matter of obloquy. Millions in this world eat
for the satisfaction of their palate; similarly, millions of
the husbands and wives indulge in the sex act for their
carnal satisfaction and will continue to do so and also
pay the inexorable penalty in the shape of numberless
ills with which nature visits all violations of its order.
The ideal of absolute brahmacharya or of married
brahmacharya is for those who aspire to a spiritual or
higher life; it is the sine qua non of such life.

Hanjan, 5-6-1937

38
SEX EDUCATION

Shri Maganbhai Desai, who received the other day
the degree equivalent to Master of Arts from the
Gujarat Vidyapith, wrote to me a Gujarati letter dated
7th October from which I cull the following :

' 'May I invite you to discuss in the columns of the Han janbandhu
a question which you have so far left more or less untouched, I
mean the question of imparting sex instruction to young people ?
As you know, Shri is regarded as a great advocate in its
favour in Gujarat. Personally I have had always my doubts. But
apart from them, I am not sure whether this particular gentleman
is at all fitted for the task. The results at any rate are not at all
encouraging. According to this gentleman it would seem as if
the lack of sex education was at the root of all our educational
problems and social ills. He and people of his way of thinking
simply pounce upon the teaching of modem psychology that
dormant libido is the motive spring of all human activity, and
wuhout further ado, set to exalt and almost deify it. , that imp
of our Ashram, remarked to me the other day, ' What do you
know of the demon of sex which is in every breast ? ' His remark
seemed to me to betray a dulling rather than awakening of his

152 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

moral sensibility. No end of mischief is today being insidiously
'done in the name of sex education Books are written on the
subject, their successive editions follow close upon one another,
each edition running into several., thousands. Some weeklies owe
their very existence to a successful exploitation of this theme.
They sell like hot ca^es. The resulting havoc can be easily
imagined. One may, of course, say that society only gets what
it wants and deserves. That, however, can hardly be a consolation
to the reformer whose task is rendered extremely difficult by the
spate of libidinous literature that masquerades under the name
of sexual science

I would therefore request you to publicly discuss this
question. Should sex education be included in the educational
curricula of our children ? Who should impart it ? What would
be the necessary qualification for the task ? Should this subject
be taught in a matter-of-fact manner to all and sundry just like
geography or arithmetic ? Or is there any limit ? And if so, who
is to draw the line and where ? Again, should the aim of sex
education be to combat the onset of libido or simply to recognize
it as an inevitable fact of nature which has to be accepted and
submitted to ? "

Sex complex is today steadily gaining ground in
Gujarat as in the rest of India. And what is more, those
who fall under its sway feel as if there is something
meritorious about it. When a slave begins to take pride
in his fetters and hugs them like precious ornaments,
the triumph of the slave-owner is complete. But this
success of Cupid, spectacular though it may be, will, I
am convinced, prove to be short-lived and ignoble, and
at long last end in inanition, even like a scorpion whose
venom is spent. But that does not mean that we can
in the meantime, afford to sit with folded hands. The
certainty of its defeat need not, must not, lull us into a
false sense of security. TJie conquest of lust is the
highest endeavour of a man or woman's existence.
Without overcoming lust man cannot hope to rule over
self. And without rule over self there can be no Swaraj
or Ramara). Rule of all without rule of oneself would
prove to be as deceptive and disappointing as a
painted toy-mango, charming to look at outwardly but
hollow and empty within. No worker who has not over-
come lust can hope to render any genuine service to

SEX EDUCATION 153

the cause of Harijans, communal unity, khadi, cow-
preservation or village reconstruction. Great causes like
these cannot be served by intellectual equipment alone;
they call for spiritual effort or soul-force. Soul-force
comes only through God's grace, and God's grace
never descends upon a man who is a slave to lust.

What place has then instruction in sexual science in
our educational system, or has it any place there at all ?
Sexual science is of two kinds that which is used for
controlling or overcoming the sexual passion, and that
which is used to stimulate and feed it. Instruction in the
former is as necessary a part of a child's education as
the latter is harmful and dangerous and ftt therefore
only to be shunned. All great religions have rightly
regarded ' kama ' as the arch-enemy of man, anger or
hatred coming only in the second place. According to
the Gita, the latter is an offspring of the former. The
Gita, of course, uses the word ' kama ' in its wider sense
of desire. But the same holds good of the narrow sense
in which it is used here.

This, however, still leaves unanswered the question,
i. e, whether it is desirable to impart to young pupils a
knowledge about the use and function of generative
organs. It seems to me that it is necessary to impart
such knowledge to a certain extent, At present they are
often left to pick up such knowledge anyhow with the
result that they are misled into abusive practices. We
cannot properly control or conquer the sexual passion
by turning a blind eye to it. I am therefore strongly
in favour of teaching young boys and girls, the significance
and right use of their generative organs. And in my own
way I have tried to impart this knowledge to young
children of both sexes for whose training I was responsible.

But the sex education that I stand for, must have for
its object the conquest and sublimation of the sex passion.
Such education should automatically serve to bring home
to children, the essential distinction between man and
brute, to make them realize that it is man's special
privilege and pride to be gifted with the faculties of head

154 SELF-RESTRAINT V SELF-INDULGENCE

and heart both; that he is a thinking no less than a
feeling animal, as the very derivation of the word ?rg^
shows, and to renounce the sovereignty of reason over
the blind instincts is therefore to renounce a man's estate.
In man, reason quickens and guides the feeling. In brute,
the soul lies ever dormant. To awaken the heart is to
awaken the dormant soul, 'to awaken reason, and to
inculcate discrimination between good and evil.

Who should teach this true science of sex ? Clearly,
he who has attained mastery over his passions. To teach
astronomy and kindred sciences we have teachers who
have gone through course of training in them and are
masters of their art. Even so must we have as teachers
of sexual science, i. e. the science of sex-control, those
who have studied it and have acquired mastery over
self. Even a lofty utterance? that has not the backing of
sincerity and experience, will be inert and lifeless, and
will utterly fail to penetrate and quicken the hearts of
men, while the speech that springs from self-realization
and genuine experience is always fruitful.

Today our entire environment our reading, our
thinking, our social behaviour is generally calculated
to subserve and cater for the sex-urge. To break through
its coils is no easy task. But it is a task worthy of our
highest endeavour. Even if there are a handful of teachers
endowed with practical experience, who accept the ideal
of attaining self-control as the highest duty of man, and
are fired by a genuine and undying faith in their mission,
and are sleeplessly vigilant and active, their labour will
light the path of the children of Gujarat, save the unwary
from falling into the mire of sexuality, and rescue those
who might be already engulfed in it.

Hanjan. 21-11-1936

39
AN UNNATURAL FATHER

A young man has sent me a letter which can be
given here only in substance. It is as under :

" I am a married man. I had gone out to a foreign country,
had a friend whom both I and my parents implicitly trusted. During
my absence he seduced my wife who has now conceived of him.
My father now insists that the girl should resort to abortion;
otherwise, he says, the family would be disgraced. To me it
seems that it would be wrong to do so. The poor woman is consu-
med with remorse She cares neither to eat nor drink, but is
always weeping. Will you kindly tell me as to what my duty is
in the case ? "

I have published this letter with great hesitation.
As everybody knows, such cases are by no means
unfrequent in society. A restrained public discussion of
the question, therefore, does not seem to me to be out
of place.

It seems to me clear as daylight that abortion would
be a crime. Countless husbands are guilty of the same
lapse as this poor woman, but nobody ever quastions
them. Society not only excuses them but does not even
censure them. Then, again, the woman cannot conceal
her shame while man can successfully hide his sin.

The woman in question deserves to be pitied. It
would be the sacred duty of the husband to bring up
the baby with all the love and tenderness that he is
capable of and to refuse to yield to the counsels of his
father. Whether he should continue to live with his wife
is a ticklish question. Circumstances may warrant sepa-
ration from her. In that case he would be bound to
provide for her maintenance and education and to help
her to live a pure life. Nor should I see anything wrong
in his accepting her repentance if it is sincere and
genuine. Nay, further, I can imagine a situation when it
would be the sacred duty of the husband, to take back
an erring wife who has completely expiated for and
redeemed her error.

Young India, 3-1-1929.

40
A RENUNCIATION

In 1891 after my return from England I virtually took
charge of the children of the family and introduced
the habit of walking with them boys and girls put-
ting my hands on their shoulders. These were my
brothers 1 children. The practice continued even after
they grew old. With the extension of the family, it gradu-
ally grew to proportions sufficient to attract attention.

I was unconscious of doing any wrong, so far as I
can recollect, till some years ago at Sabarmati an inmate
of the Ashram told me that my practice, when extended
to grown-uf girls and women, offended the accepted
notions of decency. But after discussion with the inmates
it was continued. Recently two co-workers who came to
Wardha suggested that the practice was likely to set a
bad example to others and that I should discontinue it
on that account. Their argument did not appeal to me.
Nevertheless I did not want to ignore the friends'
warning. I, therefore, referred it for examination and
advice to five inmates of the Ashram. Whilst it was
taking shape, a decisive event took place. It was brought
to my notice that a bright university student was taking
all sorts of liberties in private with a girl who was under
his influence, on the plea that he loved her like his own
sister and could not restrain himself from some physical
demonstration of it. He resented the slightest suggestion
of impurity. Could I mention what the youth had been
doing, the reader would unhesitatingly pronounce the
liberties taken by him as impure. When I read the
correspondence, I and those who saw it, came to the
conclusion that either the young man was a consummate
hypocrite or was self-deluded.

Anyway the discovery set me athinking. I recalled
the warning of the two co-workers and asked myself,
how I would feel if* I found that the young man was using
my practice in his defence. I may mention that the girl

A RENUNCIATION 157

who is the victim of the youth's attentions, although she
regards him as absolutely pure and brotherly, does not
like them, even protests against them, but is too weak
to resist his action. The self-introspection induced by the
the event resulted, within two or three days of the
reading of the correspondence, in the renunciation of the
practice, and I announced it to the inmates of the
Wardha Ashram on the 12th instant. It was not without
a pang that I came to the decision. Never has an impure
thought entered my being during or owing to the
practice. My act has always been open. I believe that my
act was that of a parent and has enabled the numerous
girls under my guidance and wardship to give their
confidences which perhaps no one else has enjoyed in
the same measure. Whilst I do not believe in a brahma-
charya which ever requires a wall of protection against
the touch of the opposite sex and will fail it exposed to
the least temptation, I am not unaware of the dangers
attendant upon the freedom I have taken.

The discovery quoted by me has, therefore, prompted
me to renounce the practice, however pure it may have
been in itself. Every act of mine is scrutinized by
thousands of men and women, as I am conducting an
experiment requiring ceaseless vigilance. I must avoid
doing things which may require a reasoned defence. My
example was never meant to be followed by all and
sundry. The young man's case has come upon me as a
warning; I have taken it in the hope that my renunciation
will set right those who may have erred, whether under
the influence of my example or without it. Innocent
youth is a priceless possession, not to be squandered
away for the sake of a momentary excitement, miscalled
pleasure. And let the weak girls like the one in this
picture be strong enough to resist the approaches,
though they may be declared to be innocent, of young
men who are either knaves or who do not know fahat
they are doing.

Harijan, 21-9-1935.

41
NOTHING WITHOUT GRACE

By the grace of medical friends and self-constituted
gaolers, Sardar Vallabhbhai and Jamnalalji, I am now
able by way of trial to resume to a limited extent my
talks with the readers of Hanjan. The restrictions that
they have put on my liberty and to which I have agreed,
are that for the time being at any rate, I shall not write
for Hanian more than I may consider to be absolutely
necessary and that too, not involving more than a few
hours 1 writing per week. I shall not carry on private
correspondence with reference to correspondents 1 per-
sonal problems or domestic difficulties, except those with
which I have already concerned myself, and I shall not
accept public engagements or attend or speak at public
gatherings. There are positive directions about sleep,
recreation, exercise and food, with which the reader is
not concerned and with which, therefore, I need not deal.
I hope that the readers of Hanjan and correspondents
will cooperate with me and Mahadev Desai, who has
in the first instance to attend to all correspondence, in
the observance of these restrictions. m

It will interest the reader to know something, about
the origin of the breakdown and the measures taken to
cope with it. So far as I have understood the medical
friends, after a very careful and painstaking examination
of my system, they have found no functional derangement.
Their opinion is that the breakdown was most probably
due to deficiency of proteins and carbohydrates in the
form of sugar and starches, coupled with overstrain for
a prolonged period, involving long hours and concentration
on numerous taxing private problems in additon to the
performance of daily public duty. So far as I can
recollect, I had been complaining for the past twelve
months or more that if I did not curtail the volume of
ever-growing work, I was sure to break down. Therefore,
when it came, it was nothing new to me. And it is highly

NOTHING WITHOUT GRACE 159

likely that the world would have heard little of it but
for the overanxlety of one of the friends who, on seeing
me indisposed, sent a sensational note to Jamnalalji
who gathered together all the medical talent that was
available in Wardha, and sent messages to Nagpur and
Bombay for further help.

The day I collapsed, I had a warning on rising in
the morning that there was some unusual pain about
the neck, but I made light of it and never mentioned
it to anybody. I continued to go through the daily
programme. The final stroke was a most exhausting and
serious conversation I had with a friend whilst I was
having the daily evening stroll. The nerves had already
been sufficiently taxed during the preceding fortnight,
with the consideration and solution of problems which for
me were quite as big and as important as, say, the
paramount question of Swaraj.

Even if no fuss had been made over the collapse, I
would have taken nature's peremptory warning to heart,
given myself moderate rest and tided over the difficulty.
But looking back upon the past, I feel that it was well
that the fuss was made. The extraordinary precaution
advised by the medical friends and equally extraordinary
care taken by the two gaolers, enforced on me the
exacting rest which I would not have taken and which
allowed ample time for introspection. Not only have I
profited by it, but the introspection has revealed vital
defects in my following out of the interpretation of the
Gita as I have understood it. I have discovered that I
have not approached with adequate detachment, the
innumerable problems that have presented themselves
for solution. It is clear that I have taken many of them
to heart and allowed them to rouse my emotional being
and *hus affect my nerves. In other words, they have
not, as they should have, in a votary of the Gita, left my
body or mind untouched. I verily believe that one who
literally follows the prescription of the eternal mother,
need never grow old in mind. Such a one's body will
wither in due course like leaves of a healthy tree, leaving

160 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

the mind as young and as fresh as ever. That seems
to me to be the meaning of Bhishma delivering his mar-
vellous discourse to Yudhishthlra, though he was on his
death-bed. Medical friends were never tired of warning
me against being excited over or affected by events
happening around me. Extra precautions were taken to
keep from me news of a tragic character. Though I think
I was not quite so bad a devotee of the Gita as their
precautions lead me to suppose, there was undoubtedly
substance behind them. For I discovered, with what a
wrench I accepted Jamnalalji's conditions and demand
that I should remove from Maganwadi to Mahila Ashram.
Anyway I had lost credit with him, for detached action.
The fact of the collapse was for him eloquent enough
testimony for discrediting my vaunted detachment. I
must plead guilty to the condemnation.

The worst, however, was to follow. I have been
trying to follow brahmacharya consciously and delibe-
rately since 1899. My definition of it is purity, not merely
of body but of both speech and thought also. With the
exception of what must be regarded as one lapse, I can
recall no instance, during more than thirtysix years'
constant and conscious effort, of mental disturbance such
as I experienced during this illness. I was disgusted
with myself. The moment the feeling came I acquainted
my attendants and tie medical friends with my condition.
They could give me no help. I expected none. I broke
loose after the experience from the rigid rest that was
imposed upon me. The confession of the wretched expe-
rience brought much relief to me. I felt as if a great
load had been raised from over me. It enabled me to
pull myself together before any harm could be done.
But what of the Gita ? Its teaching is clear and precise,
A mind that is once hooked to the Star of Stars becomes
incorruptible. How far I must be from Him, He alone
knows. Thank God my much vaunted Mahatmaship has
never fooled me. But this enforced rest has humbled
me as never before. It has brought to the surface my
limitations and imperfections. But I am not so much

HOW NON-VIOLENCE WORKS 161

i

ashamed of them, as I should be of hiding them from
the public. My faith in the message of the Gita is as
bright as ever. Unwearied, ceaseless effort is the price
that must be paid for turning that faith into rich infallible
experience. But the same Gita says without any equivo-
cation that the experience is not to be had without divine
grace. We should develop swelled heads if Divinity had
not made that ample reservat :n.

Hanjan. 29-2-1926

42
HOW NON-VIOLENCE WORKS

A Congress leader said to me the other day, in the
course of our conversations, "How is it that in quality,
the Congress is not what it used to be in 1920-25 ? It
has deteriorated. Ninety per cent of the members are
not carrying out the Congress discipline. Can you not
do something to mend this state of things? "

The question is apposite and timely. I can't shirk
responsibility by saying, 'I am no longer in the Congress.
I have gone out of it for the purpose of serving
it better. 1 I know that I still influence the Congress policy.
As the author of the Congress constitution of 1920, I
must hold myself responsible for such deterioration as
is avoidable.

The Congress started with an initial handicap in
1920. Very few believed in truth and non-violence as a
creed. Most members accepted them as a policy. It was
inevitable. I had hoped that many would accept them
as their creed after they had watched the working of
the Congress under the new policy. Only some did, not
many. In the beginning stages, the change thM came
over the foremost leaders was profound. Readers will
recall the letters from the late Pandit Motilal Nehru and
Deshbandhu Das reproduced in the Young India. They
had experienced a new joy and a new hope in a life of
self-denial, simplicity and self-sacrifice, The Ali Brothers

162 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

had almost become faqirs. As we toured from place
to place, I watched with delight the change that was
coming over the brothers. What was true of these four
leaders was true of many others whom I can name. The
enthusiasm of the leaders had infected the rank and file.
But this phenomenal change was due to the spell of
'Swaraj in one year 1 . The conditions I had attached to
the fulfilment of the formula were forgotten. Khwaja
'Saheb Abdul Majid even went so far as to suggest that,
as the general of the Satyagraha army which the
Congress had then become, and still is (if only
Congressmen realize the meaning of Satyagraha), I
should have made sure that the conditions were such
that they would be fulfilled. Perhaps he was right.
Only I had no such prevision in me. The use of non-
violence on a mass scale and for political purposes was,
even for myself, an experiment. I could not therefore
dogmatize. My conditions were meant to be a measure
of popular response. They might or might not be ful-
filled. Mistakes, miscalculations were always possible.
Be that as it may, when the fight for Swaraj became
prolonged and Khilafat ceased to be a live issue,
enthusiasm began to wane, confidence in non-violence
even as a policy began to be shaken, and untruth crept
in. People who had no faith in the twin virtues or* the
Khadi clause stole in, and many even openly defied
the Congress constitution.

The evil has continued fo grow. The Working
Committee has been making some attempt to purge the
Congress of the evil but has not been able to put its
foot down and risk the loss of numbers on the Congress
register. I myself believe in quality rather than quantity.

But there is no such thing as compulsion in the
scheme of non-violence. Reliance has to be placed
upon ability to reach the intellect and the heart the
latter rather than the former.

It follows that there must be power in ths word of
a Satyagraha general not the power that the possession
of limitless arms gives, but the power that purity of

HOW NON-VIOLENCE WORKS 163

life, strict vigilance and ceaseless application produce.
This is impossible without the observance of
brahmacharya. It must be as full as it is humanly
possible. Brahmacharya here does not mean mere
physical self-control. It means much more. It means
complete control over all the senses. Thus an Impure
thought is a breach of brahmacharya; so is anger. All
power comes from the preservation and sublimation of
the vitality that is responsible for creation of life. If the
vitality is husbanded instead of being dissipated, it is
transmuted into creative energy of the highest order.
This vitality is continuously and even unconsciously
dissipated by evil,,, or even rambling, disorderly, un-
wanted thoughts. And since thought is the root of all
speech and action, the quality of the latter corresponds
to that of the former. Hence perfectly controlled thought
is itself power of the highest potency and can become
self-acting. That seems to me to be the meaning of the
silent prayer of the heart. If man is after the image of
God, he has but to will a thing in the limited sphere
allotted to him and it becomes. Such power is impossible
in one who dissipates his energy in any way what-
soever, even as steam kept in a leaky pipe yields no
power. The sexual act divorced from the deliberate
purpose of generation is a typical and gross form of
dissipation and has therefore been specially and rightly
chosen for condemnation/ But in one who has to organize
vast masses of mankind for non-violent action, the full
control described by me has to be attempted and
virtually achieved.

This control is unattainable save by the grace of God.
There is a verse in the second chapter of the Gita which
freely rendered means: " Sense-effects remain in abey-
ance whilst one is fasting or whilst the particular sense
is starved; but the hankering does not cease except
when one sees God face to face." This control is not
mechanical or temporary. Once attained it is never lost.
In that state vital energy is stored up without any chance
of escaping by the innumerable outlets.

164 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

It has been said that such brahmacharya, if it is at
all attainable, can be so only by cave-dwellers. A
brahmachan, it is said, should never see, much less touch,
a woman. Doubtless a brahmachan may not think of, speak
of, see or touch a woman lustfully. But the prohibition,
one finds in books on brahmacharya, is mentioned without
the important adverb. The reason for the omission seems
to be that man is no impartial judge in such matters,
and therefore, cannot say when he is or is not affected by
such contacts. Cupid's visitations are often unperceivable.
Difficult though, therefore, brahmacharya is of observance
when one freely mixes with the world, it is not of much
value, if it is attainable only by retirement from the world.

Anyway, I have practised brahmacharya for over
thirty years with considerable success though living in the
midst of activities. After the decision to lead the life of
a brahmachan , there was little change in my outward
practice, except with my wife. In the course of my work
among the Indians in South Africa, I mixed freely with
women. There was hardly an Indian woman in the
Transvaal and Natal whom I did not know. They were
so many sisters and daughters to me. My brahmacharya
was not derived from books. I evolved my own rules
for my guidance and that of those who, at my invitation,
had joined me in the experiment. If I have not followed
the prescribed restrictions, much less have I accepted the
description found even in religious literature of woman as
the source of all evil and temptation. Owing as I do all the
good there may be in me to my mother, I have looked upon
woman, never as an object for satisfaction of sexual desire,
but always with the veneration due to my own mother. Man
is the tempter and aggressor. It is not woman whose touch
defiles man, but he is often himself too impure to touch
her. But recently a doubt has seized me as to the nature of-
the limitations that a brahmachan or brahmachanni should put
upon himself or herself, regarding contacts with the
opposite sex. I have set limitations which do not satisfy me.
What they should be, I do not know. I am experimenting. I
have never claimed to have been a perfect brahmachan

HOW NON-VIOLENCE WORKS 165

of my definition. I have not acquired that control over my
thoughts that I need for my researches in non-violence.
If my non-violence is to be contagious and infectious, I
must acquire greater control over my thoughts. There
is perhaps a flaw somewhere which accounts for the
apparent failure of leadership adverted to in the opening
sentence of this writing.

My faith in non-violence remains as strong as ever.
I am quite sure that not only should it answer all our
requirements in our country, but that it should, if pro-
perly applied, prevent the bloodshed that is going on
outside India and is threatening to overwhelm the
Western world.

My aspiration is limited. God has not given me the
power to guide the world on the path of ntm-violence.
But I have imagined that He has chosen me as His
instrument for presenting non-violence to India for
dealing with her many ills. The progress already made
is great. But much more remains to be done. And yet
I seem to have lost the power to evoke the needed
response from Congressmen in general. It is a bad
carpenter who quarrels with his tools. It is a bad
general who blames his men for faulty workmanship. I
know I am not a bad general. I have wisdom enough
to know my limitations. God will give me strength
enough to declare my bankruptcy if such is to be my
lot. He will perhaps take me away when I am no longer
wanted for the work which I have been permitted to
do for nearly half a century. But I do entertain the hope
that there is yet work for me to do, that the darkness
that seems to have enveloped me will disappear, and
that, whether, with another battle more brilliant than
the Dandi March or without, India will come to her
own demonstrably through non-violent means. I am
praying for the light that will dispel the darkness. Let
those who have a living faith in non-violence join me
in the prayer.

Hanjan, 23-7-1938

43
STUDENTS 1 SHAME

There is a most pathetic letter from a college girl
in the Punjab lying on my file for nearly two months.
Want of time was but an excuse for shirking the answer
to the girl's question. Somehow or other I was avoiding
the task, though I knew the answer. Meanwhile I
received another letter from a sister of great experience,
and I felt that I could no longer evade the duty of
dealing with the college girl's very real difficulty. Her
letter is written in chaste Hindustani. I must try to do
as much justice as I can to the letter, which gives me
a perfect picture of her deep feeling. Here is my
rendering of a portion of the letter :

" To girls and grown-up women there come times, in spite
of their wish to the contrary, when they have to venture out
alone, whether they are going from one place to another in the
same city, or from one town to another. And when they are
thus found alone, evil-minded people^ pester them. They use
improper or even indecent language whilst they are passing by.
And if fear does not check them, they do not hesitate to take
further liberty. I should like to know what part non-violence
can play on such occasions. The use of violence is of course
there. If the girl or the woman has sufficient courage, she will
use what resources she has and teach miscreants a lesson.
They can at least kick up a row that would diaw the attention
of the people around, resulting in the miscreants being horse-
whipped. But I know that the result oC such treatment would
be merely to postpone the agony, not a permanent cure
Where you know the people who misbehave, I feel sure that
they will listen to reason, the gesture of love and humility.
But what about a fellow cycling by, using foul language on
seeing a girl or a woman unaccompanied by a male companion ?
You have no opportunity of reasoning with him. There is no
likelihood of your meeting him again. You may not even
recognize him. You do not know his address. What is a poor
girl or a woman to do in such cases ? By way of example I
want to give you my own experience of last night ( 26th
October ). I was going with a girl companion of mine on a very
special errand at about 7-30 P. M. It was impossible to secure
a male companion at the time and the errand could not be put
off. On the way a Sikh young man passed by on his cycle "and

continued to murmur something till we were within hearing
distance. We knew that it was aimed at us, We felt hurt and
uneasy. There was no crowd on the road. Before we had gone
a few paces the cyclist returned. We recognized him at once
whilst he was still at a respectful distance He wheeled towards
us; heaven knows whether he had intended to get down or merely
pass by us. We felt that we were in danger. We had no faith in
our physical prowess. I myself am weaker than the average girl.
But in my hands I had a big book. Somehow or other courage came
to me all of a sudden. I hurled the heavy book at the cycle and
roared out, ' Dare you repeat your pranks ? ' He could with
difficulty keep his balance, put on speed and fled from us. Now
if I had not flung the book at his cycle, he might have harassed
us by his filthy language to the end of our journey. This was
an ordinary, perhaps insignificant, occurrence ; but I wish you
could come to Lahore and listen to the difficulties of us unfor-
* tunate girls. You would surely discover proper solution. First of
all, tell me how, in the circumstances mentioned above, can
girls apply the principle of ahimsa and save themselves.
Secondly, what is the remedy for curing youth of the abo-
minable habit of insulting womenfolk ? You would not suggest
that we should wait and suffer till a new generation, taught
from childhood to be polite to their womenfolk, comes into being.
The Government is either unwilling or unable to deal with this social
evil. The big leaders have no time for such questions. Some, when
they hear of a girl bravely castigating ill-behaved youth, say, 'Well
done. That is the way all girls should behave.' Sometimes a
leader is found eloquently lecturing against such misbehaviour
of students. But no one applies himself continuously to the solution
of this serious problem. You will be painfully surprised to know
that during Diwali and such other holidays, newspapers come
out with notices warning womer from venturing outdoors even
to see the illuminations. This one fact should enable you to
know to what straits we are reduced in this part of the world I
Neither the writers nor the readers of such warnings have any
sense of shame that they should have to be issued.-"

Another Punjabi girl to whom I gave the letter to
read, supports the narrative from her own experiences of
her college days and tells me that what my correspondent
has related is the common experience of most girls.

The other letter from an experienced woman relates
the experiences of her girl friends in Lucknow. They
are molested in cinema theatres by boys sitting in the
row behind them, using all kinds of language which I
can only call indecent. They are stated to resort even

168 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

to practical jokes which have been described by my
correspondent but which I must not reproduce here.

If the immediate personal relief was all that was
needed, no doubt, the remedy that the girl who describes
herself to be physically weak adopted, i.e. of flinging
her book at the cyclist, was quite correct. It is an age-
long remedy. And I have said in these columns that
when a person wants to become violent, physical
weakness does not come in the way of its effective use
even against a physically powerful opponent. And we
know that in the present age, there have been invented
so many methods of using physical force that even a
little girl with sufficient intelligence can deal death and
destruction. The fashion nowadays is growing of training
girls to defend themselves in situations, such as the one
described by my correspondent. But she is wise enough
to know that even though she was able to make effective
use for the moment, of the book she had in her hand
as a weapon of defence, it was no remedy for the
growing evil. In the cases of rude remarks, there need
be no perturbation but there should be no indifference.
All such cases should be published in the papers.
Names of the offenders should be published when they
are traced. There should be no false modesty about
exposing the evil. There is nothing like public opinion for
castigating public misconduct. There is no doubt that, as
the correspondent says, there is great public apathy about
such matters. But it is not the public alone that are to blame.
They must have before them examples of rudeness. Even
as stealing cannot be dealt with, unless cases of thieving
are published and followed up, so also is it impossible
to deal with cases of rude behaviour if they are suppr-
essed. Crime and vice generally require darkness for
prowling. They disappear when light plays upon them.

But I have a fear that the modern girl loves to be
Juliet to half a dozen Romeos. She loves adventure. My
correspondent seems to represent the unusual type. The
modern girl dresses not to protect herself from wind,
rain and sun but to attract attention. She improves upon

STUDENTS 1 SHAME 169

nature by painting herself and looking extraordinary.
The non-violent way is not for such girls. I have often
remarked in these columns that definite rules govern the
development of the non-violent spirit in us. It is a
strenuous effort. It marks a revolution in the way of
thinking and living. If my correspondent and the girls
of her way of thinking will revolutionize their life in the
prescribed manner, they will soon find that young men,
who at all come in contact with them, will learn to respect
them and to put on their best behaviour in their
presence. But if perchance they find, as they may, that
their very chastity is in danger of being violated, they must
develop courage enough to die rather than yield to the
brute in man. It has been suggested that a girl who is
gagged or bound so as to make her powerless even for
struggling, cannot die as easily as I seem to think. I
venture to assert that a girl who has the will to resist can
burst all the bonds that may have been used to render her
powerless. The resolute will gives her the strength to die.

But this heroism is possible only for those who
have trained themselves for it. Those who have not a
living faith in non-violence will learn the art of ordinary
self-defence and protect themselves from indecent
behaviour of unchivalrous youth.

The great question, however, is why should young men
be devoid of elementary good manners so as to make
decent girls be in perpetual fear of molestation from
them ? I should be sorry to discover that the majority of
young men have lost all sense of chivalry. But they should,
as a class, be jealous of their reputation and deal with every
case of impropriety occuring among their mates. They must
learn to hold the honour of every woman as dear as that
of their own sisters and mothers. All the education they
receive will be in vain if they *do not learn good manners.

And is it not as much the concern of professors and
schoolmasters to ensure gentlemanliness among their
pupils as to prepare them for the subjects prescribed
for the class-room ?

Hanjan, 31-12-1938

44
THE MODERN GIRL

I have received a letter written on behalf of eleven
girls whose names and addresses have been sent to me.
I give it below with changes that make it more readable
without in any way altering the meaning:

"Your comments on the letter of a lady student captioned
'Students' Shame 1 and published in the Har^an of the 31st
December, 1938, deserve special attention. The modern girl, it
seems, has provoked you to the extent that you have disposed
of her finally as one playing Juliet to half a dozen Romeos.
This remark which betrays your idea about women in general is
not very inspiring.

11 In these days when women are coming out of closed doors to
help men and take an equal share of the burden of life, it is
indeed strange that they are still beamed even when they are
maltreated by men. It cannot be denied that instances can be
cited where the fault is equally divided. There may be a few
girls playing Juliets to half a dozen Romeos. But such cases
presuppose the existence of half a dozen Romeos, moving about
the streets in quest of a Juliet. And it cannot or should never
be taken that modern girls are categorically all Juliets or
modern youths all Romeos. You yourself have come in contact
with quite a number of modern girls and may have been struck
by their resolution, sacrifice and other sterling womanly virtues.

' As for forming public opinion against such misdemeanours as
pointed out by your correspondent, it is not for girls to do it, not
so much out of false shame as from its ineffectiveness.

"But a statement like this from one revered all over the world,
seems to hold a brief once more for that worn out and unbe-
coming saying woman is the gate of Hell*

" From the foregoing remarks, however, please do not conclude
that modern girls have no respect for you. They hold you in as much
respect as every young man does. To be hated or pitied is what
they resent much. They are ready to mend their ways if they are
really guilty. Their guilt, if any, must be conclusively proved
before they are anathematized. In this respect they would neither
desire to take shelter under the covering of 'ladies, please, 1
nor would they silently stand and allow the judge to condemn
them in his own way. Truth must be faced; the modern girl or
'Juliet 1 , as you have called her, has courage enough to face it."

My correspondents do not perhaps know that I began
service of India's women in South Africa more than

THE MODERN GIRL 171

forty years ago when perhaps none of them was born.
I hold myself to be incapable of writing anything dero-
gatory to womanhood. My regard for the fair sex is too
great to permit me to think ill of them. She is, what
she has been described to be in English, the better half
of mankind. And my article was written to expose
students' shame, not to advertise the frailties of girls.
But in giving the diagnosis of the disease, I was bound
if I was to prescribe the right remedy, to mention all
the factors which induced the disease.

The modern girl has a special meaning. Therefore
there was no question of my restricting the scope of my
remark to some. But all the girls who receive English
education are not modern girls. I know many who are
not at all touched by the 'modern girl 1 spirit. But there
are some who have become modern girls. My remark
was meant to warn India's girl students against copying
the modern girl and complicating a problem that has
become a serious menace. For, at the time I received
the letter referred to, I received also a letter from an
Andhra girl student bitterly complaining of the behaviour
of Andhra students which, from the description given,
is worse than what was described by the Lahore girl.
This daughter of Andhra tells me that the simple dress of
her girl friends gives them no protection, but they lack
the courage to expose the barbarism of the boys who
are a disgrace to the institution they belong to. I
commend this complaint to the authorities of the Andhra
University.

The eleven girls I invite to initiate a crusade against
the rude behaviour of students. God helps only those
who help themselves. The girls must learn the art of
protecting themselves against the ruffianly behaviour
of man.

n, 4-2-1939

45
OBSCENE ADVERTISEMENTS

A sister, sending me a cutting from a well-known
magazine containing the advertisement of a most
objectionable book, writes:

"The enclosed came under my eye when glancing over the
pages of . I do not know if you get this magazine. 1 do not
suppose you ever have time to glance at it even if it is sent to
you. Once before I spoke to you about 'obscene advertisements'.
I do wish you would write about them some time. That books
of the type advertised, are flooding the market today is only too
true, but should responsible journals like encourage their sale?
My woman's modesty is so utterly repelled by these things that
1 cannot write to anyone but you. To think that what God has
given to woman with intent for an express purpose, should be
advertised for abuse ia-ioo degrading for words. . . .1 wish you
would write about the responsibility of leading Indian newspapers
and journals in this respect. This is not the first by any means
that I could have sent to you for criticism."

From the advertisement I do not propose to repro-
duce any portion except to tell the reader that it des-
cribes as obscenely as it can the suggestive contents
of the book advertised. Its title is 'Sexual Beauty of the
Female Form 1 , and the advertising firm tells the reader
that it will give away free to the buyer two more books
called 'New Knowledge for the Bride 1 and 'The Sexual
Embrace or How to Please Your Partner*.

I fear that in relying on me in any way to affect the
course of the advertisers of such books or to move the
editors or publishers from their purpose of making their
productions yield profits, she relies on a broken reed.
No amount of appealing by me to the publishers of the
objectionable books or advertisements of them will be
of any use. But what I would like to tell the writer of
the letter and other learned sisters like her, is to come
out in the open and to do the work that is peculiarly
and specially theirs. Very often a bad name is given to
a person and he or she in course of time begins to
believe in the badness. To call a woman a member of
'the weaker sex 1 is a libel. In what way is woman the

OBSCENE ADVERTISEMENTS 173

weaker sex I do not know. If the implication is that she
lacks the brute instinct of man or does not possess
it in the same measure as man, the charge may be
admitted. But then woman becomes, as she is, the nobler
sex. If she is weak in striking, she is strong in suffering.
I have described woman as the embodiment of sacrifice
and alnmsa. She has to learn not to rely on man to
protect her virtue or her honour. I do not know a single
instance of a man having ever protected the virtue of a
woman. He cannot even if he would. Rama certainly did
not protect the virtue of Sita, nor the five Pandavas of
Draupadi. Both these noble women protected their own
virtue by the sheer force of their purity. No person loses
honour or self-respect but by his consent. A woman no
more loses her honour or virtue because a brute renders
her senseless and ravishes her than a man loses his
because a wicked woman administers to him a stupefying
drug and makes him do what she likes.

It is remarkable that there are no books written in
praise of male beauty. But why should there always be
literature to excite the animal passions of man? May it
be that woman like to live up to the titles that man has
chosen to bestow upon her ? Does she like to have the
beauty of her form exploited by man ? Does she like to
look beautiful of form before man, and why? These are
questions I would like educated sisters to ask themselves.
If these advertisements and literature offend them, they
must wage a relentless war against them and they will
stop them in a moment. Would that woman will realize
the power she has latent in her for good, if she has also
for mischief. It is in her power to make the world more
livable both for her and her partner, whether as father,
son or husband, if she .would cease to think of herself
as weak and fit only to serve as a doll for man to play
with. If society is not to be destroyed by insane wars
of nations against nations and still more insane wars on
its moral foundations, the woman will have to play her
part not manfully, as some are trying to do, but woman-
fully. She won't better humanity by vying with man in

174 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

his ability to destroy life mostly without purpose. Let it
be her privilege to wean the erring man from his error
which will envelope in his ruin that of woman also. This
wretched advertisement is merely a straw showing
which way the wind is blowing. It is a shameless exploi-
tation of woman. It would not leave alone even "the
beauty of female form of savage races of the world. 1 '

Harijan, 14-11-1936

46
HOW TO STOP OBSCENE ADVERTISEMENTS?

A correpondent who saw my article on obscene
advertisements writes :

"You can do much in preventing obscene advertisements
by exposing the names of the papers and magazines which
advertise such shameless things as you have mentioned."

I can't undertake the censorship my correspondent
advises, but I can suggest a better way. If public consci-
ence is alive, subscribers can write to their respective
papers, if they contain objectionable advertisements,
drawing their attention to them and stopping their sub-
scriptions if the offence is not cured. The reader will
be glad to know that the sister who complained to me
about the obscene advertisement wrote also to the editor
of the offending magazine who expressed his regret for
the inadvertent admission of the obnoxious advertisement
and promised to remove it forthwith.

I am glad also to be able to say that my caution has
found support from some other papers. Thus the editor
of the Nispruha of Nagpur writes :

" I have not only read with great care your article in the
Har^an regarding obscene advertisements but have given a
detailed translation of it in the Nisptuha. I have also added a short
editorial comment thereon.

I am enclossing a typical advertisement wnich, though not

obscene, is yet immoral in a sense. The advertisement is obviously

bogus and it is generally the villager who falls a prey to it. I

have always refused such advertisements and I am also writing

FAMINES AND BIRTH RATE 175

to this party similarly. If an editor must supervise the reading
matter that he will allow, it is as much his duty to supervise the
advert laments, and no editor can permit his paper to be used by
people desirous of duping the simple villagers "
Hanjan, 2-1-1937.

47
FAMINES AND BIRTH RATE

Major Gen. Sir John McGaw, President, India Office
Medical Board, is reported by a correspondent to have
said :

" Famines in India will recur, in fact India ts today facing
perpetual famine. Unless something is done to decrease the
birth rate in India, the country will be leading straight for a
calamity."

The correspondent asks what I have to say on this
grave issue.

For me, this and some other ways of explaining
away famines in India, is to divert the attention from the
only cause of recurring famines in this benighted land.
I have stated and repeat here that famines of India
are not a calamity descended upon us from nature
but is a calamity created by the rulers whether
through ignorant indifference or whether consciously or
otherwise does not matter. Prevention against draught
is not beyond human effort and ingenuity. Such effort
has not proved ineffective in other countries. In India a
sustained intelligent effort has never been made.

The bogey of increasing birth rate is not a new
thing. It has been often trotted out. Increase in popu-
lation is not and ought,not to be regarded as a calamity
to be avoided. Its regulation or restriction by arti-
ficial methods is a calamity of the first grade whether
we know it or not. It is bound to degrade the race, if
it becomes universal, which, thank God, it is never likely
to be. Pestilence, wars and famines are cursed antidotes
against cursed lust which is responsible for unwanted
children. If we would avoid this three-fold curse we

176 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

would avoid too the curse of unwanted children by the
sovereign remedy of self-control. The evil consequences
of artificial methods are being seen by discerning men
even now. Without however encroaching upon the moral
domain, let me say that propagation of the race rabbit-
wise must undoubtedly be stopped; but not so as to bring
greater evils in its train. It should be stopped by methods
which in themselves ennoble the race. In other words, it
is all a matter of proper education which would embrace
every department of life; and dealing with one curse will
take in its orbit all the others. A way is not to be
avoided becuse it is upward and therefore uphill. Man's
upward progress necessarily means ever increasing
difficulty, which is to be welcomed.

Hanjan 31-3-19-46.

48

SELF-RESTRAINT IN MARRIAGE

The same correspondent from the Patidar Ashram,
Surat, who put a question to Shri Narahari Parikh, has
also asked the following:

"To marry and not have sexual commerce until
Swaraj is attained is surely an inconsistency. He who
wants to refrain has no need to marry and vice versa.
Man is a civilized being. By introducing the institution
of marriage, he has attempted to establish an ordered
and just society. If there were no such institution as
marriage, people would be quarrelling about matters
of sex. Of course, marriage does not mean sexual license.
There is room for self-restraint which adorns married
life. The main purpose of married life is that man arid
woman should live together and thereby help each other's
growth. It cannot be gainsaid that in this growth the
sexual side must be satisfied but with due control. When,
however, you ask a married couple to pledge them-
selves to complete sexual restraint until Swaraj is attained,
it is really putting a premium on hypocrisy. There is

SELF-RESTRAINT IN MARRIAGE 177

even danger of moral perversion for the couple con-
cerned, Exceptional men and women will refuse to be
bound in marriage. Those who desire marriage are of
the ordinary run of human beings. It is good that the
particular bridegroom made it clear later on that he
could not deny to his wife the right of motherhood. This
sentence really saved Gandhiji's face. One cannot expect
anything other than hypocrisy in the guise of celibacy in
marriage.

1 'Gandhi ji ought to explain clearly the implications
of the vow of celibacy until the attainment of Swaraj.
To me it appears quite ridiculous. 11

It is deplorable that the correspondent seems to
take it for granted that the main thing in marriage is
the satisfaction of the sexual urge. Rightly speaking, the
true purpose of marriage should be and is intimate
friendship and companionship between man and woman.
There is in it no room for sexual satisfaction. That
marriage is no marriage which takes place for the satis-
faction of the sex desire. That satisfaction is a denial
of true friendship. 1 know of English marriages under-
taken for the sake of companionship and mutual service.
If a reference to my own married life is not considered
irrelevant, I may say that my wife and I tested the real
bliss of married life when we renounced sexual contact,
and that, in the heyday of youth. It was then that our
companionship blossomed and both of us were enabled to
render real service to India and humanity in general.
I have written about this in my " Experiments with
Truth". Indeed this self-denial was born out of our great
desire for service.

Of course, innumerable marriages take place in
the natural course of event and such will continue. The
physical side of married life is given pre-eminence in
these. Innumerable persons eat in order to satisfy the
palate; but such indulgence does not therefore become
one's duty. Very few eat to live but they are the ones
who really know the law of eating. Similarly, those only

178 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

really marry who marry in order to experience the
purity and sanctity of the marriage tie and thereby
realize the divinity within.

The correspondent does not seem to be conversant
with the full details of the Tendulkar-Indumati marriage.
The vow of sexual restraint was an outcome of mature
deliberation. The text was written in Hindustani. The
papers put ia their own English translations of it. The
original provided for sexual intercourse if the wife
desired progeny. This much is certain that both desired
to observe restraint even after marriage. The union was
for promotion of joint service. They had known each
other for many years. Shri Indumati's parents gave their
consent to this marriage after much testing. Then jail
life prolonged the agony. Both parties as well as their
elders were keen that the ceremony should take place
in Sevagram Ashram, where Shri* Indumati had lived
for some time and derived solace. I am unaware of
their whereabouts today. I have no reason to suspect
hypocrisy in the transaction. But even if it is discovered,
it would not prove that the vow of br.hmackarya in
married life is at fault. The fault lies in hypocrisy. An
English poet has well said, "Hypocrisy is an ode to
virtue". Wherever there are true coins, counterfeit ones
will also be found. Where there is virtue, there will be
hypocrisy, i.e. vice masquerading as virtue. How tragic
and surprising that a virtuous action should be sought
to be stopped because of the fear of hypocrisy !

Hanjan, 7-7-1946

49
HOW DID I BEGIN IT ?

Readers must have noticed that last week I started
writing for the Hanjan. How long I shall be able to
continue it, I do not know. God's will be done in this
as in other things.

When I think of it, the circumstances under which I
stopped writing for the Harijan have not altered. Pyarelalji
is far away from me and in my opinion is doing very
important work in Noakhali. He is taking part in what
I have called Aiahayagna. Parsuramji, the English typist
who had become used to the work has gone toAhmedabad
of his own choice to help Jivanji. Kanu Gandhi was of
much help, but he is also taking part in the Mahavagna
of Noakhali. Most of the other helpers are also unable
to help under the stress of circumstances or other causes.
To resume writing for the Hanjan under these adverse
conditions would be ordinarily considered madness. But
what appears unpractical from the ordinary standpoint
is feasible under divine guidance. I believe I dance to
the divine tune. If this is delusion, I treasure it.

Who is this Divinity ? I would love to discuss the
question; only not today.

The question that is foremost with us all, I discuss
every evening after the prayer. This writing will come
before the readers after seven days. This interval would
be considered too long in connection with the pressing
problem. Therefore, in these columns for the moment,
I must confine myself to things of eternal value. One
such is brahmachaiya. The world seems to be running
after things of transitory value. It has no time for the
other. And yet when one thinks a little deeper, it be-
comes clear that it is the things eternal that count in
the end.

What is brah.nacharyi? It is the way of life which
leads us to Brahma (God). It includes full control over
tha process of reproduction. The control must be in

180 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

thought, word and deed. If the thought is not under
control, the other two have no value. There is a saying
in Hindustani: I( He whose heart is pure has all the puri-
fying waters of the Ganges in his house. 11 For one whose
thought is under control, the other is mere child 'splay.
The brahmachari of my conception will be healthy and
will easily live long. He will not even suffer from so
much as a headache. Mental and physical work will not
cause fatigue. He is ever bright, never slothful. Outward
neatness will be an exact reflection of the inner. He
will exhibit all the attributes of the steadfast one described
in the Gita. It need cause no worry if not one person
is met with answering the description.

Is it strange that one who is able completely to con-
serve and sublimate the vital fluid which has the poten-
tiality of creating human beings, should exhibit all the
attributes described above ? Who can measure the crea-
tive strength of such sublimation, one drop of which has
the potentiality of bringing into being a human life ?
Patanjali has described five disciplines. It is not possible
to isolate any one of these and practise it. It may be
posited in the case of Truth, because it really includes
the other four. And for this age the five have been
expanded into eleven. Acharya Vinoba has put them
in the form of a Marathi verse : They are non-violence,
truth, non-stealing, bmhmacharya, non-possession, bread
labour, control of the palate, fearlessness, equal regard
for all religions, swadeshi and removal of untouchability.

All these can be derived from Truth. But life is
complex. It is not possible to enunciate one grand
principle and leave the rest to follow of itself. Even
when we know a proposition, its corollaries have to be
worked out.

It is well to bear in mind that all the disciplines
are of equal importance. If one is broken, all are. There
seems to be a popular belief amongst us that breach of
truth or non-violence is pardonable. Non-stealing and
non-possession are rarely mentioned. We hardly
recognize the necessity of observing them. But a fancied

WALLS OF PROTECTION 181

breach of brahmacharya excites wrath and worse. There
must be something seriously wrong with a society in
which values are exaggerated and underestimated.
Moreover, to use the word brahmachaiya in a narrow
sense is to detract from its value. Such detraction
increases the difficulty of proper observance. When it
is isolated, even the elementary observance becomes
difficult, if not impossible. Therefore, it is essential that
all the disciplines should be taken as one. This enables
one to realize the full meaning and significance of
brahmacharya.
Hanjan 8-6-1947

50

WALLS OF PROTECTION

Let us ask ourselves what walls should be erected
to protect brahmacharya of which I wrote last week. The
answer seems clear. It is not brahmacharya that needs
Walls of protection. To say this is easy enough and
sounds sweet. But it is difficult to understand the import
of the statement and more so to act accordingly.

It is true that he who has attained perfect brahmacharya
does not stand in need of protecting walls. But the
aspirant undoubtedly needs them, even as a young
mango plant has need of a strong fence round it. A
child goes from its mother's lap to the cradle and from
the cradle to the push-cart, till he becomes a man who
has learnt to walk without aid. To cling to the aid when
it is needless is surely harmful.

I made it clear last week that brahmacharya is one
of the eleven observances. It follows, therefore, that the
real aid to brahmacharya are the remaining ten observances.
The difference between them and the walls of protection
is that the latter are temporary, the former permanent.
They are an integral part of brahmacharya.

Brahmadiarya is a mental condition. The outward
behaviour of a man is at once the sign and proof of the

182 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

inner state. He who has killed the sexual urge in him
will never be guilty of it in any shape or form. However
attractive a woman may be, her attraction will produce
no effect qn the man without the urge. The same rule
applies to woman. But he or she who has not conquered
lust should not turn the eyes even towards a sister or
a brother or a daughter or a son. This advice I have
given to friends who have profited by it.

As for myself I have to admit with great shame that
while the eight of women had ceased to rouse any sexual
urge in me in South Africa, in the early days of my
return to India, past recollections roused the urge against
which I had to battle fairly hard. The same is true of
the vague fear which is so unbecoming in man.

I was cowardly by nature. I was frightened to sleep
in the dark. To sleep alone in a room was an act of
bravery for me. I hope I have lost that cowardliness. Yet I
do not know what would be my state if I lost my way
and had to wander alone in a thick forest on a dark
night and if I were to forget that God was ever with
me. If this childhood's fear has not completely gone
from me, it would be certainly more difficult for me to
be fearless in a lonely jungle than to control the sex urge.

There are certain rules laid down in India for the
would-be brahmachan. Thus he may not live among
women, animals and eunuchs, he may not teach a woman
only or even a group, he may not sit on the same mat
as a woman, he may not look at any part of a woman's
body, he may not take milk, curds, ghee or any fatty
substance nor indulge in baths and oily massage. I read
about these when I was in South Africa. There I came in
touch with some men and women who, while they
observed brahmacharya, never knew that any of the
above-named restraints were necessary. Nor did I observe
them and I was none the worse for the non-observance,
I did give up milk, ghee and other animal substances but
for different reasons. I failed in this attempt after two
or three years after my return to India. But if today I
could find any effective vegetable substitute for milk

WALLS OF PROTECTION 183

and ghee, I would gladly renounce all animal products.
But this is another story,

A perfect brahmachan never loses his vital fluid. On
the contrary, he is able to increase it day by day and,
what is more, he conserves it; he will, therefore, never
become old in the accepted sense and his intellect will
never be dimmed.

It appears to me that even the true aspirant does
not need the above-mentioned restraints. Brahmacharya
is not a virtue that can be cultivated by outward restraints.
He who runs away from a necessary contact with a
woman, does not understand the full meaning of
brakmackarya.

Let not the reader imagine for one moment that
what I have written is to serve as the slightest
encouragement to life without the law of real restraint.
Nor is there room in any honest attempt for hypocrisy.

Self-indulgence and hypocrisy are sins to be avoided.

The true brahmachan will shun false restraints. He
must create his own fences according to his limitations,
breaking them down when he feels that they are unne-
cessary. The first thing is to know what true brahmacharya
is, then to realize its value and lastly to try to. cultivate
this priceless virtue. I hold that true service of the
country demands this observance.

Hanjan, 15-6-1947.

51
A PERPLEXITY

" I have developed a curious mentality about the relations
between men and women. I believe in certain checks upon these.
Yet my condition is very like that of a man suspended in mid-
air. I often feel that if these relations were more natural than
they are. probably there would be less smfulness. Yet something
within me tells me that every touch, be it ever so superficial,
is bound to lead to the eruption of animal passion. When one
examines the court cases here even about brother and sister or
even father and daughter, the beginning seems to have been
quite innocent. In my opinion the glow of mere touch drags down
inside of a month, even a week, one who is not endowed with
extra purity. A good man may take even ten years but he is sure
to go down the incline of vice. There is a constant conflict
between the habit which we have inherited and the study of
modernist books The question often arises can society altogether
abjure contact between the sexes ? I have not been able to
come to a decision, Such in short is my sorry plight."

This is the usual state of many youths and young
women. There is only one way for such young people.
They have to avoid all contact of the opposite sex. The
checks and restraints described in our books were the
result of experience gained during those times. They
were, no doubt, necessary for the writers and their
readers. Today every aspirant has to pick out from
them the necessary items and add new ones which
experience may make necessary. If we draw a circle
round the goal to be reached, we shall find many
ways leading to the goal, each one according to
his needs.

An aspirant who may not know his own mind will
certainly fail if he blindly copies another.

Having said so much by way of caution, I must add
that to find the true way to brahmacharya through a study
of court cases and erotic literature is as fruitless as the
effort to find the proverbial flower in the heavens above.
The true way is not to be found in English law courts
or in the novels. They have their use in their limited

A PERPLEXITY 185

field, but they are of no use to the aspirant after
brahmacharya. English men and women who tread the
difficult path are not afflicted by the imaginings of the
correspondent quoted above. Those whom I have in
mind have their God enthroned in their hearts. They
are neither self-deceived nor would they deceive others.
To them their sisters and mothers are ever thus and
for them all women are in the place of sisters and
mothers. It never occurs to them that every contact with
them is sinful or that it is fraught with danger They
see in all women the same God they see in themselves.
It will betray lack of humility to say that such specimens
do not exist because we have not come across them.
Lack of belief in the possibility would also amount to
lowering tha standard of brahmacharya. There is as much
error in saying that there is no God because we have
not seen Him face to face or because we have not met
men who have had that experience, as there is in
rejecting the possibilities of brahmacharya because our
own evidence is to the contrary.

6-7-1947

52
IN DEFENCE

The correspondent from whose letter I had quoted
the other day writes :

11 1 entirely agree with the opinion you have expressed on
the views set forth in a letter I wiote eleven years ago.
Nevertheless, I lacked the courage to act up to them I often
say to myself, Why enter the black hole at all ? ' In spite of
your presenting society with the ideal man of your imagination
for its own good, it seems to me that that good would be better
served by keeping intact the restraints handed down by men
of expei ience. It is true that sex-consciousness should be removed.
It is also true that the feeling of ownership of women should
likewise go. But in propagating these fundamental rules, persons
have been known to have damaged our society to a great extent.
It seems to me to be dangerous. X objects even to sitting on
the same mat with women. He may be an example of faith in
our old wisdom. Nevertheless, the idea is not to be lightly set
aside. The sage advice of the Gita> that whatever the great in a
society do, common people will follow, is unforgettable.
Therefore, it seems to me that it is wisdom for those who have
reached a higher state to act in accordance witn the capacity
of those many who belong to a lower state and this they will
do, in order to avoid the risk of the lower state people resorting
to thoughtless imitation. I admit, however, one apt argument in
defence of your position, viz., that if there was nobody to
demonstrate the feasibility of the higher state, society would
never develop faith in that state. Therefore, someone has got
to demonstrate the feasibility of reaching the high state. I seem
to reach the conclusion that every great person has got to model
his behaviour after due appreciation of the pros and cons. "

I like the above criticism. Everyone should learn
how to measure his own weakness. He, who, knowing
his own weakness, imitates the strong, is bound to fail.
Hence have I contended that everyone should construct
his own restraints.

I do not think that X goes so far as to object to squat-
ting on the same mat as women. I should be surprised
if your statement proved true. I could not appreciate
such prohibition. I hive never known him to defend it.

I can only detect ignorance in likening woman to
the black hole. The very thought is insulting to both

IN DEFENCE 187

man and woman. May not her son sit side by side with
his mother or the man share the same bench in a train
with his sister ? He who suffers excitement through such
juxtaposition is surely worthy of pity.

Although I believe that for the sake of social good
one should abandon many things, I feel that there is
room for wise discretion even in the observance of
such" restraints. In Europe there is a society of men
which advocates stark nakedness. I was asked to join
that society and I refused to do so. My objection was
that the proposition was intolerable and that unless a
measure of self-control had become an established fact,
the exhibition of nakedness was not desirable. This I
said although I believe that theoretically speaking, there
is nothing harmful in both the sexes going about in
utter nakedness. It is said that in their state of innocence
Adam and Eve had not even a fig leaf to cover their
nakedness. But immediately they became aware of their
nakedness, they began to cover themselves and were
hurled from Paradise. Are we not in that inherited fallen
state ? If we were to forget that, we would surely harm
ourselves. I consider this an instance of observing
prohibition for the sake of social good.

Contrarywise, for the very sake of society it was
just *and proper to give up untouchability although it
was fashionable among people of accepted merit.
Marriage of nine-year-old girls used to be defended
on the ground of social good. So was prohibition against
crossing the seas. Such instances can be multiplied.
Every custom has to be examined on its own merits.

Restraints must not be such as to perpetuate sex-
consciousness. In most of our daily transactions such
consciousness is absent. Such occasion, so far as I am
aware, is only one. If the consciousness afflicted us the
whole day long, we should be considered to have a corrupt
mind and such a mind is not conducive to social welfare.
If the villagers were continuously sex-conscious, they
would be useless for advancement of self and society.

Harijan 27-7-1947.

53
ON CONTRACEPTIVES

During Gandhiji's Bengal iour, while answering
questions in one of the workers 1 meetings, he said that
a woman who really and truly prepared her children
for the service of the motherland, need not do anything
more. A friend interpreted this remark as a confirmation
of the popular belief that woman's one duty was to
look after the home and bring up the children properly.
Gandhi ji laughed and said : "People always interpret
things in the way that suits them. Men and women given
to animal enjoyment can never prepare their children
for the service of the motherland. It is only those whose
law of life is self-control that can do so and such will
always find time for service outside the domestic sphere."

He holds strong views against birth control with
the help of contraceptives. ' 'Contraceptives, >f he says,
"are an insult to womanhood. The difference between
a prostitute and a woman using contraceptives is only
this that the former sells her body to several men,
the latter sells it to one man. Man has no right to touch
his wife so long as she does not wish to have a child,
and the woman should have the will power to resist
even her own husband."

S. N.

Hanjan. 5-5-1946

SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

PART II

EXTRACTS FROM MAHADEV DESAI'S
WEEKLY LETTERS

I

ON THE THRESHOLD OF MARRIED LIFE

The annual meeting of the Gandhi Seva Sangh at
Hubli, disturbed by incessant rain, was important for
various reasons. I propose to speak of it at length in
the next issue. I am going to confine myself in this
issue to the two marriages and sacred thread ceremonies
we had under the blessings of the members of the
Sangh. For me it is a matter of personal gratefulness that
prompts me to write these lines. But there were about
these apparently private ceremonies things in which the
public are likely to be interested, and I therefore make
no apology for occupying a part of these columns.

The Sangh itself is an ethical body a body of
public workers who approach the problems of work in
a predominantly religious spirit, and their discussions
are always full of self-introspection. It was in the fitness
of things that Gandhiji decided to perform the marriage
ceremonies of his grand-daughter and my sister and
the thread cejremonies of my brother and son under
the auspices of the Sangh. Nothing could contribute
better to the understanding, on the part of the young
parties concerned, of the seriousness of the life on
which they ware about to embark, above all to a
conviction that the ceremonies were no festivities but
solemn consecration ceremonies. All outward show and
ceremony was eschewed, no invitations to friends or
relations were issued, and the parties came in the
conviction that they would prize much more the blessings
of a body of serious-minded, self-sacrificing public
workers than the blessings of relations and friends
which they should get as a matter of course. The
ceremonies were performed by two Shastns. Shastri
Rambhatji of Belgaum and Shastri Laxman Joshi of the
famous Prajna Pathashala at Wai, who offered their
services without the thought of a reward. They knew
the meaning of every part of the ceremonies, and Shri

192 SELF-RESTRAINT v SELF-INDULGENCE

Laxman Shastri translated every mantra in very lucid
Hindi and insisted on the parties understanding every
word that they repeated.

Contrary to his wont, Gandhiji did not address his
remarks to the married couples in the presence of the
audience, but privately. But they will interest all married
couples and I summarize them here as best I can.

11 You must know," he said, "that I do not believe
in ceremonies except to the extent that they awaken in
us a sense of duty. I have had that attitude of mind
ever since I began to think for myself. The mantras
you have repeated and the vows you have taken, were
all in Sanskrit, but they were all translated for you. We
had the Sanskrit text because I know that the Sanskrit
word has a power under the influence of which one
would love to come.

"One of the wishes expressed by the husband
during the ceremony is that the bride may be the
mother of a good and healthy son. The wish did not shock
me. It does not mean that procreation is obligatory, but it
means that if progeny is wanted, marriage performed
in a strictly religious spirit is essential. He who does
not want a child need not marry at all. Marriage for
the satisfaction of sexual appetite is no marriage. It is
vyabhichara concupiscence. Today's ceremony, there-
fore, means that the sexual act is permitted only when
there is a clear desire by both for a child. The whole
conception is sacred. The act has therefore to be
performed prayerfully. It is not preceded by the usual
courtship designed to provide sexual excitement and
pleasure. Such union may only be once in a life-time,
if no other child is desired. Those who are not morally
and physically healthy, have no business to unite, and
if they do, it is vyabhichara concupiscence. You must
unlearn the lesson, if you have learnt it before, that
marriage is for the satisfaction of animal appetite. It is
a superstition. The whole ceremony is performed in
the presence of the sacred fire. Let the fire make ashes
of all the lust in you.

ON THE THRESHOLD OF MARRIED LIFE 193

"I would also ask you to disabuse yourselves of
another superstition which is rampant nowadays. It is
being said that restraint and abstinence are wrong and
free satisfaction of the sexual appetite and free love is the
most natural thing. There was never a more ruinous
superstition. You may be incapable of attaining the ideal,
your flesh may be weak; but do not therefore lower
the ideal, do not make irreligion your religion. In your
weak moments remember what I am telling you. The
remembrance of this solemn occasion may well steady
and restrain you. The very purpose of marriage is
restraint and sublimation of the sexual passion. If there
is any other purpose, marriage is no consecration, but
marriage for other purposes besides having progeny.

"You are being united in marriage as friends and
equals. If the husband is called wamm, the wife is
swammi each master of the other, each helpmate of
the other, each co-operating with the other in the perfor-
mance of life's tasks and duties. To you, boys, I would
say that if you are gifted with better intellects and richer
emotions, infect the girls with them. Be their true teachers
and guides, help them and guide them, but never hinder
them or misguide them. Let there be complete harmony
of thought and word and deed between you, may you
have no secrets -from each other, may you be one in soul.

11 Don't be hypocrites, don't break your health in the
vain effort of performing what may be impossible for
you. Restraint never ruins one's health. What ruins one's
health is not restraint but outward suppression. A really
self-restrained person grows every day from strength
to strength and from peace to more peace. The very
first step in self-restraint is the restraint of thoughts.
Understand your limitations and do only as much as you
can. I have placed the ideal before you the right
angle. Try as best you can to attain the right angle.
But if you fail, there is no cause for grief or shame. I have
simply explained to you that marriage is a consecration,
a new birth, even as the sacred thread ceremony is a
consecration and a new binh. Let not what I have told
S-13

194 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

you alarm you or weaken you. Always aim at complete
harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at
purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.
There is nothing more potent than thought. Deed follows
word and word follows thought. The world is the result
of a mighty thought, and where the thought is mighty and
pure, the result is always mighty and pure. I want you
to go hence armed with the armour of a noble ideal,
and I assure you no temptation can harm you, no
impurity can touch you.

1 ' Remember the various ceremonies that have been
explained to you. Look at the simple-looking ceremony
of madhuparka. The whole world is full of wad/>u sweet
nectar or honey if only you will par take of it after the
rest of the world has taken its share of it. It means
1 enjoyment by means of renunciation.'

1 ' But if there is no desire for progeny, should there
be no marriage?" asked one of the bridegrooms.

11 Certainly not. I do not believe in Platonic marriages.
In certain rare cases, men are known to have married
women to protect the latter and not for any physical
union at all. But those cases are very rare indeed. You
must read all that I have written on pure married life.
What I read in the Mahabharata is daily growing upon
me. Vyasa is described therein as having performed
myoga He is not described as beautiful, but he was the
reverse of it. His form is represented as terrible, he
made no amorous gestures, but he smeared his whole
body with ghee before he performed the union. He
performed the act not for lust but for procreation. The
desire for a child is perfectly natural, and once the desire
is satisfied, there should be no union,

"Manu has described the first child as dhanraja
born out of a sense of duty, arid children born after
the first as kamaja -carnally born. That gives in a
nutshell the law of sexual relations. And what is God
but the Law ? And to obey God is to perform the Law.
Remember that you were thriced asked to repeat : ' I
will not transgress the Law in any respects. 1 Even if we

ON THE THRESHOLD OF MARRIED LIFE 195

had a handful of men and women prepared to abide by
the Law, we should have a race of men and women
stalwart and true.

"Remember that I really came to enjoy my married
life after I ceased to look at Ba sexually. I took the vow of
abstinence when I was in the prime of youth and health,
when I was young enough to enjoy married life in the
accepted sense of the term. I saw in a flash that I was
born, as we all are, for a sacred mission. I did not
know this when I was married. But on coming to my
sense I felt that I must see that the marriage subserved
the mission for which I was born. Then indeed did I
realize true dharm^ True happiness came into our lives
only after the vow was taken. Ba, though she looks frail,
has a fine constitution and toils from morning until night.
She would never have done so, had she continued to
be the object of my lust.

"And yet I woke up late in the sense that I had lived
the married life for some years. You are lucky enough
to be aroused in good time. Circumstances, when I was
married, were as unpropitious as they could be. For you
they are as propitious as they could be. There was one
thing, though, that I possessed and that carried me
through. It was the armour of truth. That protected
me and saved me. Truth has been the very foundation
of my life. Brahmacharya and ahimsa were born later out
of truth. Whatever, therefore, you do, be true to yourselves
and to the world. Hide not your thoughts. If it is shameful
to reveal them, it is more shameful to think them,"

Harijan, 24-4- 1937.

II

A BIRTH CONTROL ENTHUSIAST

Quite a striking contrast to the old peasant who had
brought his all in the service of the poor was Mrs.
How-Martyn, the birth control enthusiast from England,
who had brought her gospel for the relief of the poor in
India and who came to convert Gandhiji or be converted.
Of course, she has come to India for the first time and
has hardly seen anything of the poor. So she talked
of her experience of the British slums and put in a
strong plea for the 'poor woman 1 who had tD submit
to the strong man.

On her very first premise Gandhiji joined issue.
"There is no poor woman. Poor woman is mightier than
man, and I am quite prepared to demonstrate it to you
if you come to the villages of India. Any woman there
would tell you that, if she did not want it, there was no
man born of woman who could compel her. I can say this
from my own experience in relation to my wife, and
mine is no solitary instance. If the will to die rather
than to yield is there, no monster can make the woman
yield. No, it is a mutual affair. Men and women both
are a mixture of the brute and the divine, and if we
can subdue the brute, it is well and good."

"But what is the woman to do, if the man for the sake
of having not more children goes to another woman?"

"So now you are shifting your own ground. If you
misconceive your' premises, you are bound to come to
wrong conclusions. Don't assume things and try to unman
man and unwoman woman. Let me understand the basis of
your gospel. When I said your birth control propaganda
was sufficient introduction, there was some seriousness
behind the joke, for, I know that there are some men and
women who think that in birth control lies our salvation.
Let me, therefore, understand the basis from you."

"I do not see in it the salvation of the world," said
Mrs. HoV-Martyn, "but what I say is that without some

A BIRTH CONTROL ENTHUSIAST ' 197

form of birth control there is no salvation. You would
do it in one way, I would do it in another. I advocate
your method as well, but not in all cases. You seem to
regard a beautiful function 'as something objectionable
Two animals are nearest to the divine when they are
going to create new life. There is something very
beautiful in the act. 11

"Here again you are labouring under a confusion, "
said Gandhiji. "The creation of a new life is nearest the
divine, I agree. All I want is that one should approach
that act in a divine way. That is to say, man and
woman must come together with no other desire than
that of creating a new life. But if they come together
merely to have a fond embrace, they are nearest the
devil. Man unfortunately forgets that he is nearest the
divine, hankers after the brute instinct ia himself and
becomes less than the brute."

"But why must you cast aspersion on the brute?"

"I do not. The brute fulfils the law of his own nature.
The lion in his majesty is a noble creature and he has
a perfect right to eat me up; but I have none to develop
paws and pounce upon you. Then I lower myself and
become worse than the brute."

"I dm sorry ," said Mrs. How-Martyn, "I have
expressed myself very badly. I confess that in a majority
of cases it is not going to be their salvation, but a factor
which will conduce to higher life. You understand what
I mean, though I am afraid I have not been able to
make myself quite clear."

11 Ohr, no. I do not want to take any undue advantage
of you. But I want you to understand my viewpoint. Do
not run away with misconceptions. Man must choose
either of the two courses, the upward or the downward;
but as he has the brute in him, he will more easily
choose the downward course than the upward, especially
when the downward course is presented to him in a
beautiful garb. Man easily capitulates when sin is present-
ed in the garb of virtue, and that is what Marie Stopes
and others are doing. If I were to popularize the religion

198 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

of indulgence, I know that men would simply clutch at
it. I know that, if people like you in selfless zeal cried
themselves hoarse upholding your doctrine, you might
even ride to apparent victory; but I also know that you
will ride to certain death, of course totally unconscious
of the mischief you are doing. The downward instinct
requires no advocacy, no argument. It is tlfere embodied
in them, and unless you regulate and control it, there
is danger of disease and pestilence."

Mrs. How-Martyn, who until now seemed to accept
the distinction between the divine and the devilish,
contended that there was really none and that they were
much more allied than people imagined. That really is
the thing at the back of all birth control philosophy, and
the enthusiasts forget that that is their Achilles' heel,

"So you think the devil and the divine are the same?
Do you believe in the sun? And if you do, don't you
think you must believe in the shadow?" asked Gandhiji.
M Why should you call 'shadow 1 devil?"
"You may call it 'no-God 1 , if you like.' 1
"I do not think there is no-God in the shadow. There
is life everywhere."

"There is a thing like absence of life. Do you know
that Hindus will reduce the body of the dearest one to
ashes as soon as life in it is extinct ? There is an essential
unity in all life, but there is diversity, too, and one has
to penetrate it and find the unity behind but not by
intellect, as you are trying to do. Where there is truth,
there must be untruth; where there is light, there must
be shadow. You cannot realize the wider consciousness,
unless you subordinate completely reason and intellect,
and the body, too."

Mrs. How-Martyn looked puzzled, and time was fast
running against her. But Gandhiji said : "No. I am
prepared to give you more time. But for that you must
come to Wardha and stay with me. I am as great an
enthusiast as you, and you must not leave India until
you have converted me or converted yourself. 11

PROBLEM OF BIRTH CONTROL 199

As I listened to the rapturous discourse, which other
engagements had to bring to an end, I was reminded
of the great words of St. Francis of Assisi: "Light looked
down and beheld darkness. 'Thither will I go, ' said
Light. Peace looked down and beheld War; 'Thither
will I go, ' said Peace. Love looked down and beheld
Haired; 'Thither will I go, 1 said Love and the Word
was made Flesh and dwelt among us." *

Hanjan, 1-2-1935.

Ill

PROBLEM OF BIRTH CONTROL

But how the villager and the villages haunt Gandhiji's
days and dreams, will appear most vividly in a discourse
that he had with Swami Yogananct who has just returned
home after a long stay in America. On his way to Ranchi
he halted here for a couple of days and had long con-
versations with Gandhiji. His mission in America was
purely spiritual and he said he had tried everywhere
to show by preaching and example the spiritual message
of India to the world, It is his conviction that ' Crucified
India will mean the salvation of the world. 1

Two problems he wanted to discuss with Gandhiji
the problem of Evil and the problem of Birth Control.
He had seen a good deal of the seamy side of American
life and knew Judge Lindsay intimately. . . .

' I shall now change the subject, 1 said the Swami.
1 You would prefer self-control to birth control ? '

1 1 think artificial birth control or birth control ac-
cording to methods suggested today and recommended
in the West is suicidal. When I say ' suicidal', I do not
mean resulting in the extinction .of the race; I mean
suicidal in a higher sense of the term, that is to say,
these methods make man lower than the brute; they are
immoral. 1

200 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

1 But how long are we to tolerate indiscriminate
procreation ? I know a man who used to purchase a
seer of milk, and went on diluting it with water in order to
divide it between his children whose number increased
every year. Don't you think this was a sin ? '

1 It is a sin to bring forth unwanted children, but
I think it is a greater sin to avoid the consequences of
one's own action. It simply unmans man.'

' What then is the most practical method of telling
man this truth ? '

I The most practical method is to live the life of
self-control. Example is better than precept.'

' But the West asks us, " Why is it that you have
greater child mortality and lower life average than we,
though you regard yourselves as more spiritual than the
West ? " Do you believe in many children, Mahatmaji ? '

I 1 believe in no children. '

1 Then the whole race will be extinct. '
1 It won't be extinct, it will be transformed into
something better. But it can never happen, for we have
inherited from eternity the sex instinct from our proge-
nitors. It means a tremendous effort to check this
habit of ages, and yet it is a simple effort. Absolute
renunciation, absolute brahmacharya is the ideal state.
If you dare not think of it, marry by ail means, but even
then live a life of self-control. '

I Have you any working method to teach this to
the masses ? '

' It is, as I said a moment ago, to attain complete
self-control and go and live that life amongst the masses.
A life of self-restraint and denial of all luxuries cannot
but have its effect on the masses, There is an indisso-
luble connection between self-control and the control
of the palate. The man who observes brahmacharya will
be controlled in every one of his acts and will be humble. 1

I 1 see what you mean, ' said the Swami. ' The
masses do not know the happiness of self-control and
we have to teach them that. But what about the argument
of the West I referred to before ? '

MRS S ANGER AND BIRTH CONTROL 201

1 1 do not think that we are more spiritually-minded
than the West. If we were, we should not have fallen
so low. But because the average life of a Westerner is
much higher than ours, it does not prove the spirituality
of the West. Whoever is spiritually-minded must show
a better, not necessarily a longer, life. '

Hanjan, 7-9-1935

-IV

MRS. SANGER AND BIRTH CONTROL

IN SEVhUAL ASPECTS

Since the time Mrs. Margaret Sanger, the famous
leader of the Birth Control movement, paid a visit to
Wardha, I have seen several different aspects of her.
First as she appeared to me there during those remark-
able -interviews with Gandhiji - interviews in which
she appealed to Gandhiji as a great moral teacher " to
advise something practical, something that can be applied
to solve the problem of loo frequent child-bearing, "
11 to give some message for those who are not yet sure
but who are anxious to limit their families. " She seemed,
during those conversations into which Gandhiji poured
his whole being, desperately anxious to find out some
point of contact with Gandhiji, to find out the utmost
extent to which he could go with her. And he did
indicate the extent. Her second aspect is revealed in her
article in the Illustrated Weekly or India in which she
ridicules what she calls Gandhiji's " amazing boast " of
having known the experiences and the aspirations of
thousands of women in India. " Mrs. Sanger approached
Gandhiji in Wardha for solution of a tough problem,
because, as she herself said, " there were thousands,
millions, who regard your word as that of a saint, "
and yet she ridicules his claim to know these women's
aspirations and experiences, " thousands of whom march-
ed to iail at his word. All she is concerned about in

202 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

this article is to prove that Gandhiji does not know the
women of India, She utters not a word about the points
of agreement she sought at the interview, and the extent
to which Gandhiji said he was prepared to go with her.
The third aspect is revealed in an address on " Woman
of the Future " that she delivered before the World
Fellowship of Faiths. I shall come to this later in my article.

THE INTERVIEW

To come to the interview. As I have already said,
Gandhiji poured his whole being into his conversation.
He revealed himself inside out, giving Mrs. Sanger an
intimate glimpse of his own private life. He also declared
to her his own limitations, especially the stupendous
limitation of his own philosophy of life -a philosophy
that seeks self-realization through self-control, and said
that from him there could be one solution and one alone.
11 1 could not recommend the remedy of birth control
to a woman who wanted my approval. I should simply
say to her : "My remedy is of no use to you. You must
go to others for advice. " Mrs. sanger cited some hard
cases. " I agree, " said Gandhiji, " there are hard cases.
Else birth control enthusiasts would have no case.
But I would say, do devise remedies by all means,
but the remedies should be other than the ones you
advise. If you and I as moral reformers put our foot
down on this remedy and said, 'You must fall back on
other remedies, ' those would surely be found. " Both
seemed to be agreed that woman should be emancipated,
that woman should be the arbiter of her destiny. But
Mrs. Sanger would have Gandhiji work for woman's
emancipation through her pet device, just as believers
in violence want Gandhiji to win India's freedom through
violence, since they saem to be sure that non-violence
can never succeed.

She forgets this fundamental difference in her impa-
tience to prove that Gandhiji does not know the women
of India. And she claims to prove this on the ground
that he makes an impossible appeal to the women of

MRS. SANGER AND BIRTH CONTROL 203

India the appeal to resist their husbands. Well, this is
what he said : "My wife I made the orbit of all women.
In her I studied all women, I came in contact with
many European women in South Africa, and I knew
practically every Indian woman there. I worked with
them. I tried to show them they were not slaves either
of their husbands or parents, not only in the political
field but in the domestic as well. But the trouble was
that some could not resis^theii husbands. The remedy is
in the hands of women themselves. The struggle is difficult
for them, and I do not blame them. I blame the men. Men
have legislated against them. Man has regarded woman
as his tool. She has learned to be his tool and in the
end found it easy and pleasurable to be such, because
when one drags anothor in his fall the descent is easy . . .
I have felt that during the years still left to me, if I can
drive home to women's minds the truth that they are
free, we will have no birth control problem in India. If
they will only learn to say 'no 1 to their husbands when
they approach them carnally, I do not suppose all
husbands are brutes, and if women only know how to
resist them, all will be well. I have been able to teach
women who havo come in contact with me how to
resist their husbands. The real problem is that many do
not want to resist them ... No resistance bordering
upon bitterness will be necessary in 99 out oi 100 cases.
If a wife says to her husband, 'No, I do not want it/
he will make no trouble. But she hasn't been taught.
Her parents in most cases won't teach it to her. There
are some cases, I know, in which parents have appealed
to their daughters' husbands not to force motherhood
on their daughters. And I havp come across amenable
husbands too. I want woman to learn the primary right
of resistance. She thinks now that she has not got it."

What is there in this to show that Gandhiji did not

know the women of India or did not know women, I

do not understand. Jesus, who set the seal of his own

blood upon his precept "Love thine enemy", and

"Resist not evil", would be held to have uttered the

204 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

precept in ignorance of mankind, simply because we
are far away from realization of that principle !

Mrs. Sanger raises the phantasmagoria of "irritations,
disputes, and thwarted longings that Mr. Gandhi's
advice would bring into the home ", of the absence of
11 loving glances 11 and of "tender good night kisses"
and of " words of endearment ", forgetting all the while
that birth control and all its tender or vulgar accompani-
ments have contributed in America to countless irritations
and disputes, divorces and woVse. But the America we
know through books of a realist reformer like Upton
Sinclair would seem to be different from the America
that Mrs. Sanger claims to know. She cited cases of
great nervous and mental breakdowns as a result of
the practice of self-control. Gandhiji spoke from a
knowledge of the numerous letters he received every
mail, when he said to her that " the evidence is all based
on examination of imbeciles. The conclusions are not
drawn from the practice of healthy-minded people. The
people they take for examples, have not lived a life of
even tolerable continence. These neurologists assume
that people are expected to exercise self-restraint while
they continue to lead the same ill regulated life. The
consequence is that they do not exercise self- restraint
but become lunatics. I carry on correspondence with
many of these people and they describe their own
ailments to me. I simply say that if I were to present
them wirti this method of birth control ihey would lead
far worse lives."

He told her that when she went to Calcutta she would
be told by those who knew what havoc contraceptives had
worked among unmarried young men and women. But
evidently for the purposfe of the conversation, at any
rate, Mrs. Sanger confined herself to propagation of
knowledge of birth control among married couples only.

Mrs. Sanger mocks at what she calls Mr. Gandhi's
"appalling fear of licentiousness and over-indulgence"
following upon a life of unrestrained birth control, and
she pointedly asks : " Has he ever thought that the same

MRS. SANGER AND BIRTH CONTROL 205

frequency can occur during the nine months of a woman's
pregnancy ? " I must say that in advancing this argument
Mrs. Sanger is less than fair to her own sex. None but
the most abnormally lewd or suppressed would submit
to even legitimate sexual advances during pregnancy.

What was to be done with couples who wanted to
resist the impulse of sex and yet could not do so ?

SEX-LOVE AND SEX-LULT

Mrs. Sang^r was thus led on to her apotheosis of
11 sex-love ", which she said "is a relationship which
makes for oneness, for completeness between husband
and wife and contributes to a finer understanding and
a greater spiritual harmony. 11 An obviously harmless
proposition, but full of confusion when in the same
breath one identifies love with lust and then tries to
separate the one from the other, The distinction that
Gandhiji drew between love and lust will be evident
fiom the following extracts from the coversation :

G. : When both want to satisfy animal passion without
ha\ing to suffer the consequences of their act it is not
love, it is lust. But if love is pure, it will transcend
animal passion and will regulate itself. We have not had
enough education of the passions. When a husband says,
"Let us not have children, but let us have relations,"
what is that but animal passion ? If they do not want to
have more children, they should simply refuse to unite.
Love becomes lust the moment you make it a means for
the satisfaction of animal needs. It is just the same with
food. If food is taken only for pleasure, it is lust. You
do not take chocolates for the sake of satisfying your
hunger. You take them for pleasure and then ask the
doctor for an antidote. Perhaps you will tell the doctor
that whisky befogs your brain and he gives you an
antidote. Would it not be better not to take chocolates
or whisky ?

Mrs. S. : No. I do not accept the analogy.

G. : Of course you will not accept the analogy
because you think this sex expression without desire

206 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-IN DULGENCE

for children is a need of the soul, a contention I do
not endorse.

Mrs. S. : Yes, sex expression is a spiritual need
and I claim that the quality of this expression is more
important than the result, for, the quality of the relation-
ship is there regardless of results. We all know that
the great majority of children are born as an accident,
without the parents having any desire for conception.
Seldom are two people drawn together in the sex act
by their desire to have children. ... Do you think
it possible for two people who are in love, who are
happy together, to regulate their sex act only once in
two years, so that relationship would only take place
when they wanted a child? Do you think it possible?

G. : I had the honour of doing that very thing and
I am not the only one.

Mrs. Sanger thought it was illogical to contend
that sex union for the purpose of having children would
be love, and union for the satisfaction of the sexual
appetite was lust, for the same act was involved in both.
Gandhiji immediately capitulated and said he was ready
to describe all sexual union as partaking of the nature
of lust. He made the whole thing abundantly clear by
citing facts from his own life. "I know," he said, "from
my own experience that as long as I looked upon my
wife carnally, we had no real understanding. Our love
did not reach a high plane. There was affection between
us always, but we came closer and closer the more we
or rather I became restrained. There never was want
of restraint on the part of my wife. Very often she would
show restraint, but she rarely resisted me although she
showed disinclination very often. All the time I wanted
carnal pleasure I could not serve her. The moment I bade
good-bye to a life of carnal pleasure our whole relation-
ship became spiritual. Lust died and love reigned
instead. 11

But Mrs. Sanger probably regards every free
embrace an act of love and a married life without
sexual relationship and its blandishments a dull lifeless

MRS. SANGER AND BIRTH CONTROL 207

affair. Gandhiji's own personal witness made no
impression upon her. She dismissed it as that of an
'idealist', as appears from her veiled sneer at "that
small group of idealists who have sublimated their sex
energies into creative action, into the activities of his
own National Congress." I do not think during all his
conversation Gandhijieven once referred to the Congress
or Congressmen. Mrs. Sanger forgets that all moral
advancement has proceeded on the practfce of a "small
group of idealists " and that even the apparent progress
of her own movement depends a lot on the clever way
in which she idealizes her nostrum and describes it as
the upward path "demanding of us who inhabit this
globe all that we possess in intelligence, knowledge,
courage, vision and responsibility," the road that " leads
to the fulfilment of human destiny on this planet ! "

A POSSIBLE WAY OUT

Mrs. Sanger is so impatient to prove that Gandhiji
is a visionary that she forgets the practical ways and
means that Gandhiji suggested to her.

"Must the sexual union take place only three or
four times in an entire lifetime ? " she asked.

"Why should people not be taught," replied Gandhiji,
"that it is immoral to have more than three or four
children and that after they have had that number they
should sleep separately ? If they are taught this, it would
harden into custom. And if social reformers cannot
impress this idea upon the people, why not a law ?
If husband and wife have four children, they would
have had sufficient animal enjoyment. Their love may
then be lifted to a higher plane. Their bodies have met.
After they have had the children they wanted, their love
transforms itself into a spiritual relationship. If these
children die and they want more, then they may meet
again. Why must people be slaves of this passion when
they are not of others ? When you give them education
in birth control, you tell them it is a duty. You say to
them that if they do not do this thing, they will interrupt

208 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

their spiritual evolution. You
After giving them education in iSisth control youtfjp not
say to them 'thus far and no further 1 . You ask people to
drink temperately, as though it yy:as possible to remain
temperate. I know tjtaese temperate -people. 11

And yet as Mrs. Sander was so dreadfully in earnest
Gandhiji did mention a remedy which could conceivably
appeal to hij. That method was the avoidance of sexual
union during unsafe periods, confining, if ,to the 'safe 1
period of about ten days during the QlJ&ttU "P 13 * had
at least an element of self-contr^wl^ip $^|L^ b f
exercised during the unsafe period. JWofemer this
appealed to Mrs. Sanger or not I & not know. But
therein spoke Gandhiji the truth-aaeker. Mrs. Sanger
has not referred to it anywhere in her interviews or her
Illustrated Weeklv article. Perhaps if birth controllers were
to be satisfied with this simple method, the birth control
^inics and propagandists would find their trade gone.

INCONSISTENT '

But I come to a third aspect of Mrs. Sanger. Her
address to the World Fellowship of Faiths is most
revealing. She frankly speaks there on behalf of her
country where " there are more criminal abortions per-
formed than in any other country in the world. The
national total of abortions has been estimated to top
2,000,000 per year. This total does not include the number
brought about by drugs or by instruments used by the
pregnant woman herself. 11 Let it be remembered that
it is not only the married woman who is thought of
here. It is the unmarried woman too, and Mrs. Sanger
would not really mind arming her with contraceptives.
"The infinitely more complicated problein^or^^tion"
can be only solved, she says, "by* a' |>r6per f safe,
dependable means of birth control. In 'the present
state of society abortions are inevitable, and so birth
control is also* inevitable i The vicious circle is complete.
Mrs. Sanger makes a fervent appeal for preventing
the " misuse ana -tragic waste of the greatest creative

MRS. SANGER'S LETTER 209

force within human nature itself. " She forgets that
contraceptives will provide the most infernal engine of
that waste and misuse.

But I have come across in her address a startling
argument which would take away from the seriousness
of all her arguments. " Japan is breaking her own record
for population increase ! The whole crisis in the Far
East so menacing to the peace of the world at large
grows out of this ' full speed ahead ' cradle competition
between Asiatic races. Is it not time for the League of
Nations or the World Court to turn on this red traffic
light? Japan's determination to find an outlet for this
surplus population precipitates the so-called ' undeclared
war ' against the Chinese, the creation of the puppet
State of Manchukuo, the breaking of solemn treaties,
the sowing of the seeds of another World War."
Another yellow peril ? Is it a humanitarian that speaks
here, or someone vastly different therefrom ? I wonder.

Hanjan, 25-1-1936

MRS. SANGER'S LETTER

Mrs. Sanger has sent me a letter which I must
publish in fairness to her :

Dear Mr. Desai,

In your article giving out the interview between Mr, Gandni

*and myself you say that in my article in the Illustrated Weekly I

wrote only on one point of the conversation In this you are

quite correct That was all I meant to give out or to discuss in

that article

May I also say that before I sent the article I read it to a
dear and loyal friend of yours and Mr. Gandhi's, Muriel Lester,
who was the one who suggested what you called a "veiled
sneer ". Please be assured that I have only the highest regard
and respect for all those brave men and women who are working
for India's freedom. If you will look up my own record, you
will find my name among that first group of men and women
in America who in 1917 organized themselves to help over there
for the freedom of India here.

The next point in your article in which I think you are also in
error is that you seem to indicate that Mr. Gandhi accepted in

S-14

210 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

our conversation the method of the Safe Period. I think you will
look over the typed statement. You will find him saying "It does
not repel me as the other does," but he did not commit himself
beyond that, though I pressed for a more definite statement. I
would not consider it fair to Mr. Gandhi to make the state-
ments you have given out for publicity. Nor do I think Mr.
Gandhi would agree to your last paragraph about the propa-
gandist "trade". That sentence and intimation is not worthy of
one like yourself who has worked selflessly in a cause for
humanity.

The birth control workers have battled and are still working
selflessly and without remuneration for a cause they consider
to be a fundamental human right, ana a cause for human
liberty and progress, and it is unfair, unkind and untrue to play
to the opposition by making a trite remark which has no founda-
tion in fact.

Sincerely yours,
MARGARET SANGER

As regards the "veiled sneer", I gladly and grate-
fully stand corrected. I must say, however, that the
generally querulous and flippant tone of her article
justified me in reading a sneer where I now understand,
none was meant.

As regards the other "error", I would request Mrs.
Sanger to remember that whilst she concerned herself
with "only one point of the conversation", I could not.

I do not think that in saying that Gandhiji would tolerate
the "Safe Period" method because it involved a certain
measure of self-control, I committed him to a thing he
would not have liked to. I simply wanted to show
Gandhiji's readiness to agree with his adversary as
much as he could. The very reason why he said that
"the method does not repel me as the other does",
is of the very essence in this matter. Whereas Mrs.
Sanger's method leaves one free to indulge oneself all
the days of the month, this particular one seemed to have
the credit of imposing on one certain measure of
self-control.

I see that Mrs. Sanger resents the suggestion about

II trade ". I did not mean to attribute any " trade " motives
to Mrs. Sanger personally. I know that she has fought

WRONG APOTHEOSIS OF WOMEN 211

bravely and selflessly for her cause. But there is
absolutely no untruth in the statement that there is
altogether too much of unseemly propaganda about birth
control and all kinds of contraceptives and attractive-
looking but shoddy literature which is the stock-in-trade
of the average birth control enthusiast. All this serves
but to vitiate the cause which Mrs. Sanger is espousing
selflessly.

Haiijan, 22-2-1936

WRONG APOTHEOSIS OF WOMEN*

Gandhiji next dwelt on a topic on which he had
spoken in the Subjects Committee, but could not have
any resolution thereon as he did not find the proper
atmosphere. The occasion was a letter addressed to
him by the ladies in charge of a women's movement
called Jyoti Sanzh. The letter enclosed copy of a resolution
they had passed condemning the present-day tendencies
in literature regarding the presentation of women.
There was, Gandhiji felt, considerable force in the
complaint, and he said : "The gravamen of their charge
is that the present-day writers give an entirely false
picture of women. They are exasperated at the sickly
sentimentality with which you delineate them, at the
vulgar way in which you dwell on their physical form.
Does all their beauty and their strength lie in their
physical form, in their capacity to please the lustful eye
of men ? Why, the writers of the letter justly ask, should
we be eternally represented as meek, submissive women
for whom all the menial jobs of the household are
reserved, and whose only deities are their husbands ?
Why are they not delineated as they really are ? We are,
they say, neither aetherial damsels, nor dolls nor bundles

* From an account of the proceedings of the Gujarat Literary
Conference held at Ahmedabad in November, 1936.

212 SELF-RESTRAINT V SELF-INDULGENCE

of passions and nerves. We are as much human beings
as men are, and we are filled with the same urge for
freedom. I claim to know them and their minds sufficiently
well. There was a time in South Africa when I was
surrounded by numerous women, all their men-folk having
gone to jails. There were some sixty inmates and I had
become the brother and father of all the_girls and
women. Let me tell you that they grew in strength and
spirit under me, so much so that they ultimately marched
to jails themselves.

"I am told that our literature is full of even an
exaggerated apotheosis of women. Let me say that it is
an altogether wrong apotheosis. Let me place one simple
test before you. In what light do you think of them
when you proceed to write about them? I suggest that
before you put your pens to paper, think of woman as
your own mother, and I assure you the chastest literature
will flow from your pens even like the beautiful rain
from heaven which waters the thirsty earth below.
Remember that a woman was your mother before a
woman became your wife. Far from quenching their
spiritual thirst some writers stimulate their passions, so
much so that poor ignorant women waste their time
wondering how they might answer to the description
our fiction gives of them. Are detailed descriptions of
their physical form an essential part of literature, I
wonder ? Do you find anything of the kind in the Upani-
shads, the Quran or the Bible ? And yet do you know
that the English language would be empty without the
Bible ? Three parts Bible and one part Shakespeare is
the description of it. Arabic would be forgotten without
the Quran. And think of Hindi without Tulsidas ! Do you
find in it anything like what you find in present-day
literature about women? 11

Hanjan, 21-11-1936.

Appendix I

GENERATION AND REGENERATION *

(By William Loftus Hare)

I. GENERATION IN BIOLOGY

Microscopic observation of unicellular life has revealed the
fact that in the lowest forms reproduction takes place by fission.
Growth follows on nourishment until the maximum size for
the species is reached, and then the organism divides its nucleus
into two, and soon afterwards its body. Given the normal
conditions water and nourishment this appears to exhaust
its functions but in the case of denial of these conditions
there is sometimes observed a reconjunction of two cells, from
which rejuvenation but not reproduction may result.

In multicellular life there is nourishment and growth as in
the life below it, but a new phenomenon is observed. The group
of cells constituting the body are mostly differentiated to
separate functions some for obtaining nourishment, sbme for
its distributions, some for locomotion and some for protection,
ns for instance, the skin The primitive function of fission is
abandoned by those to whom new duties are assigned, but is
preserved by those cells which occupy a more interior position
in the oiganism. These are guarded and served by the others
which have undergone varied differentiation, while they them-
selves remain as they were. They divide as before, but within
the multicellular body, and at length some are extruded from
it. They have, however, gained a new power, instead of dividing
in two as their ancestors did, they undergo segmentation or
multiplication of nuclei without . separation. This process
continues until the organism has reached the normal size and
structure of its multicellular species. But in the body we may
observe a new feature, the original deposit of germ-cells are
not only or chiefly extruded for external reproduction, they
themselves supply a continuous stream of fresh units from

* Reprinted from The Open Court (Chikago), March, 1926.

214 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

their group for interior differentiation, wheresoever they are
needed. These undifferentiated germ-cells are thus performing
two functions simultaneously, namely : internal reproduction for
the building up of the body and external reproduction for the
continuation of the species. Here we may clearly distinguish
two processes, which we shall call regeneration and generation.
One point more is important here : the regenerative process
internal reproduction is fundamental for the individual, and
therefore necessary and primary the generative process is due
to a superfluity of cells, and is therefore secondary. Probably
both are closely dependent on nourishment for if this be low,
there will be a deficiency of internal reproduction and no
necessity for, or possibility of, external reproduction. The law
of life; then, at this level is to feed the qerm-cells, firstly for
regeneration, secondly for generation. In case of deficiency,
regeneration must take the first place and generation be
suspended. Thus we may learn the origin of the suspension of
reproduction and follow it to its later phases of human continence
and asceticism generally. Inner reproduction can never be
suspended except at the cost of death, the normal origin of
which is thus also discerned.

II. REGENERATION IN BIOLOGY

Before passing to the animal and human species, in which
sexual differentiation has reached its highest phase and become
the normi we must glance at the intermediate form of reproduc-
tion, namely, that which preceded the bi -sexual and followed
the non-sexual forms. It has received the mythological name
1 hermaphrodite \ because it possessed both male and female
functions. There still remain a few organisms which exhibit
this condition, in which the internal multiplication of germ-cells
goes on as above described, but instead of their entire extrusion
for external growth, they are only temporarily extruded and
passed by intrusion to another part of the body, where they
are nurtured until able to begin a life of their own.

The law of growth seems to be that individuals, whether
unicellular, multicellular or hermaphrodite, have the potentiality
of developing to the stage reached by the parent creature at
the time of their extrusion. Thus it is the individual that

GENERATION AND REGENERATION 215

progresses, each time it gives birth to offspring it is or may
be in itself in a higher state of organization than it was before;
consequently its offspring will be able to reach the normal
point of development attained by its parent. The length of the
reproduction period for each species and each individual will
differ, but ideally it extends from maturity to approaching
decline. Premature or decadent reproduction will secure an
inferior offspring according to its dominant conditions. Here,
then, we perceive a law for sexual ethic derived from physical
conditions . the period when generation is most favourable to
the reproduction of the species and to regeneration is full
maturity only.

I pass by the history of the differentiation in sex which
follows the hermaphrodite, because it is a fact which may be
taken for granted. It is necessary to observe, however, a new
condition that has made its appearance with the bi-sexual forms.
Not only have the ' two halves ' of the hermaphrodite become
physically separate, but each continues to produce germ-cells
independently of the othor. The male continues the ancient,
fundamental process of internal reproduction by the multiplica-
tion of germ-cells ( which for external reproduction by extrusion
and intrusion are known as spermatozoa) . the female does
likewise, reserving rather than extruding the ova for impregna-
tion by the male germ -cells. In both cases regeneration is
primary and absolutely necessary for the individual. Every
moment of growth from conception onwards exhibits the increas-
ing process of regeneration. At maturity in the human species
generation may take place, but not necessarily for the good of
the individual, only for the race. Here, as in the lower forms,
if regeneration ceases or is imperfectly performed, disease or
death will supervene. Here, too, there is rivalry of interest
between the individual and the future race. If there be not
superfluity, the use of the germ-cells for generative reproduction
will deprive the process of regeneration (internal reproduction) of
some of its material. As a matter of fact among civilized human
beings sexual intercourse is practised vastly more than is
necessary for the production of the next generation and is carried
on at the expense of internal reproduction, bringing disease, death
and more in its train.

216 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

Another and perhaps closer glance may be taken of the
human body, using that of the male as an example, though
mutatis mutandis, the female exhibits similar process.

The central reservoir of germ-cells is the" most ancient and
fundamental location of biological life. From the first the embryo,
daily and hourly, grows by the multiplication of cells nourished
by the mother's secretions; here again feed the germ-cells is the
law of life. As they multiply and differentiate, they assume new
forms and functions transitory or permanent as the case may be.
The movement of physical birth makes little difference to the
process: now through the lips instead of through the nexus the
infant takes nourishment to feed germ-cells, these in their turn
rapidly multiply and pass all over the body to places where
they are needed, as they always are, to make goad disused
tissues. The circulatory system absorbs these cells from their
primal seat and disperses them to every part of the body In
great groups they take on special duties and form and repair
the different organs of the body. They undergo death a thousand
times so that life may be preserved in the society of cells to
which they belong, all these 'corpses' going to the periphery,
and especially to the bones, teeth, skin and hair, hardening in
such a way as to give strength and protection to the body Their
death is the price of the higher life of the body and all that is
dependent upon it. If they did not take nourishment, reproduce,
disperse, differentiate and eventually die, tho body could
not live.

From the germ or sexual cells as already said, come two
kinds of life: (l) internal, or regenerative, (2) external, or
generative. Regeneration then, as we have called it, is the basis
of the life of the body, and i draws its life from the same source
as does generation Hence it may be perceived how, in given
circumstances, the two processes may be formally opposed
to one another and more than formally they may be actually
at enmity.

Ill REGENERATION AND THE UNCONSCIOUS

The process of regeneration is not and cannot be mechanistic
in character, but like the primitive fission, is vitalisfcic. That is
to say, it exhibits intelligence and will. To suppose that life

GENERATION AND REGENERATION 217

separates, differentiates and segregates by a process that is purely
mechanistic is inconceivable. True, these fundamental processes
are so far removed from our present consciousness as to seem
to be uncontrolled by the human or animal will. But a moment's
reflection will show that just as the will of the fully developed
human being directs his external movements and actions in
accordance with the guidance of the intellect this, indeed, being
its function so the earlier processes of the gradual organization
of the body must, within the limits provided by environment,
be allowed to be directed by a kind of will guided by a kind of
intelligence. This is now known to psychologists as 'the uncon-
scious '. It is a part of our self, disconnected from our normal
daily thinking, but intensely awake and alert in regard to its
own functions so much so that it never for a moment subsides
into sleep as the consciousness does.

The unconscious, then, is the vital force which superintends
the complex processes of regeneration. Its first task is the seg-
mentation of the impregnated ovum, and thereafter, until death,
it continues to preserve its appropriate organism by absorbing
and despatching the fundamental germ-cells to their respective
stations. Though I here may seem to contradict many notable
psychologists, I would say that the unconscious is only concerned
with the individual and not with the species . therefore, first
with regeneration. Only in one sense can the unconscious be
said to concern itself with the future- generation, to whatsoever
state of organization its energy has brought the individual, that
the unconscious seeks to conserve. But it cannot do the impos-
sible, it cannot, even with the help of the conscious will,
prolong life indefinitely. Therefore it reproduces itself by the
impulse of sexual intercourse, in which it may be said the
unconscious and the conscious wills unite The gratification,
normally, of sexual intercourse may be taken as a sign of there
being some purpose to be served beyond that of the individual
who eventually pays a price more heavy than he knows. This
truth js expressed intuitively in the words of the Hebrew writer
who puts a solemn warning into the divine lips . " I will greatly
multiply thy sorrow and thy conception, in sorrow thou shalfc
bring forth children." (Gen. iii. 16)

218 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

IV. GENERATION AND DEATH

It is undesirable to load this article with extracts from the
writings of scientific specialists, but as the matter here dealt with
is so important, and popular ignorance so widespread, I am compelled
to make some authoritative quotations. Kay Lankester says f

" It results from the constitution of the protozoon body
as a single cell, and its method of multiplication by fission,
that death has no place as a natural recurrent phenomenon
among these organisms."

Weismann writes " Natural death occurs only among
multicellular organisms, the single-celled forms escape it. There
is no end to their development which can be likened to death,
nor is the rise of new individuals associated with the death of
the old. In the division the two portions are equal * neither is
the older nor the younger. Thus there arises an unending series
of individuals, each as old as the species itself, each with the
power of living on indefinitely, ever dividing, but never dying."

Patrick Geddes writes ( in The Evolution of Sex, from which
the above extracts are taken ) : " Death, we may thus say, is
the price paid for a body, the penalty its attainment and pos-
session sooner or later incurs. Now by a body is meant a com-
plex colony of cells in which there is more or less division
of labour." (p. 20)

Again, to quote Weismann's striking words " The body or
Soma thus appears to a certain extent as a subsidiary appendage
of the true bearers of life the reproductive cells."

And Kay Lankester has the same idea " Among multi-
cellular animals certain cells are separated from the rest of the
constituent units of the body. . . the bodies of the higher
animals, which die, may from this point of view be regarded
as something temporary and non-essential, destined merely to
carry for a time, to nurse and to nourish the more important
and deathless fission-products."

But the most striking, and probably most surprising fact
among the data before us is the close connection, in higher
organisms, between reproduction and death, a subject upon which
many scientists write with clarity and certainty. The nemesis
of reproduction is death. This is patent in many species, where

GENERATION AND REGENERATION 219

the organism, sometimes the male and sometimes the female,
not infrequently dies in continuing the life of the species. Survival
of the individual after reproduction is a triumph of life that is
not .always attained in some cases never. In his essay on
death, Goette has well shown how closely and necessarily bound
together are the facts of reproduction and death, which may
both be described as katabolic crises. Patrick Geddes writes ^on
this subject ( p. 255 op. cit ) ' "The association of death and
reproduction is indeed patent enough, but the connection is
in popular language usually misstated. Organisms, one hears,
have to die, they must tlierefore reproduce, else the species
would come to an end. But such emphasis on posterior utilities
is almost always only an afterthought of our invention. The true
statement, as far as history furnishes an answer, is not that
they reproduce because they have to die, but that they die
because they have to reproduce."

And Goette says briefly "It is not death that makes repro-
duction necessary, but reproduction has death as its inevitable
consequence."

After giving a large number of instances Geddes concludes
with these remarkable words "In the higher animals the fatality
of the reproductive sacrifice has been greatly lessened, yet death
may tragically persist, even -in human life, as the direct nemesis of
love The temporarily exhausting effect of even moderate sexual
indulgence is well-known, as well as the increased liability to all
forms of disease while the physical energies are thus lowered."

This discussion may be summed up briefly and, I hope,
conclusively by saying that in human life the sexual act is
essentially katabolic (or a movement towards death) in the male
anl m parturition of the offspring it is katabolic for the female.

A whole chapter could be written on the effect of undue
indulgence on the health of the body. Virility, old age, vitality
and immunity from disease are the normal lot of nearly or
quite continent persons. A proof of this, if a rather unpleasant
one, is derived from the fact that a very large number of diseases
in man have been and are cured by the artificial injection of
semen into debilitated persons.

There may well be a resistance in the mind of the reader
to accepting the conclusions offered in the present section of this

220 SELF-RESTRAINT v, SELF-INDULGENCE

essay. People will hastily point to the many old and apparently
healthy persons who have been parents of large families; they
will quote statistics which show that the married live longer
than the celibate, and so forth. Neither of these arguments have
force in face of the fact that death, scientifically conceived, is
not an event which occurs at the end of life but a process
which begins as shown by the authorities I have quoted
with life itself, and continues, moment by moment, to run along-
side with life. Anabolic repair and katabolic waste are the parallel
forces of life and death. The first leads in the race during youth
and early manhood, in middle life they run neck and neck, but
in decline the death process gains the lead, and with the last
breath, conquers. Everything which leads to this conquest, which
hastens it by a day, a year or a decade, is part of the death
process. And such, indeed, is sexual intercourse especially when
practised to excess.

It is sufficient to say here to those who doubt the autho-
rity of my words above that they may do well to consult a
most interesting and informative work entitled The Problem of
Age, Growth and Death, by Charles S. Minot [1908, John Murray] ,
in which the author expounds the physiology of decay and death.
Not being a medical book, but a group of popular lectures, spe-
cific diseases and sexuality are but lightly discussed. The one
fact upon which I relv is that natural death is a process, not
an isolated event. But the book that I value above all others
on the subject of sexuality is Iteyenerat2on, the Gate af Heaven
by Dr. Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie [Boston, the Barta Press] ,
whose title indicates a predominantly spiritual aim, although
the physical and ethical aspects are fully discussed, and supported
by hosts of scientific and patristic authorities. Strangely enough,
however, the author does not emphasize the relation of sex to
death, which is the subject of this section of my essay.

V. THE ORGAN OF THE MIND

The extent of the static opposition between generation and
regeneration may be realized when we consider the higher
functions of the body, and particularly the physical organ of the
mind. The nervous system cerebro- spinal and sympathetic
are, like all other organs, built up of cells that have once been

GENERATION AND REGENERATION 221

germ-cells, drawn from the deepest seat of life : in continuous
streams they are distributed and differentiated to the ganglia
of the systems, and of course, in immense quantities to the
brain. Withdrawal of germ-cells from their upward, regenerative
course for generative or merely indulgent purposes, deprives the
organs of their full replenishing stock of life, to their cost, slowly
and ultimately. It is these physical facts which constitute the basis
of a personal sexual ethic, counselling moderation if not restraint, at
any rato explaining the origin of restraint, as said above.

T do not hesitate to add to this section one illustration
out of several which might be adduced, to show how closely m
some philosophical systems continence is believed to minister
to mental and spiritual vigour. I allude to the Indian system
of Yoqa The reader may refer to any of the standard translations
oi Pataniali's Yoya Sutras ( that by James H. Woods in tho
Harvard Oriental Series is the best known to me ) in order to
test the brief statement J now make

[t IH probably known to those who are familiar with
Indian religious and social life that asceticism was and is still
practised by the Hindus Originally called tapas, it had two
aims, one to maintain and increase the poweis of the body
and the other to transcend the normal powers of the mind.
Traditionally one is known as liathqyoqa and is carried to
extraordinary degrees of attainment, making bodily perfection
an end m itself. The other, known as rajayoqa, is directed
rather towards intellectual and mystical development. Yet the
two systems have in common an essential physical ethic, to
which I now call attention This is set forth m the classical
suttas of Pcitanjali and in many later works derived from this
master psychologist of ancient India.

Among the ' hindrances ' to the desired attainment, 'passion*
is said to be the third (II. 7). Passion is that greed or thirst
or desire for either pleasure or the means of attaining it, says
the philosopher. Pleasure is to be rejected by the yogin because
it is intermingled with pain (II. 15). That disposes of the
psychological attraction of sexuality, and m later sutras we
are led to physical considerations.

There are eight aids to yoga's end , the first and second
are called " Abstentions and Observances " and constitute the

222 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

preliminary ethic which the yoqin must observe. It is astonishing
that the many babblers on the yoga systems either do not
know or refrain from saying that the fourth abstention is
" Abstinence from incontinence " (11.30), and that " Continence
is the control of the hidden organ of generation."

But the consequences of the abstention from incontinence
are remarkably rich according to this philosopher, who says
(II 38) "As soon as he is grounded in abstinence he acquires
energy that is power. By the acquisition of which he
accumulates qualities such as minuteness . . . and when
perfected he is endowed with the eight perfections, of which
the first is called ' Reasoning ' He is able to transfer his
thinking to his hearers."

Happy man 1 Bare attainment ! A modern Indian scholar,
M N. Dvivedi, has a very significant comment on this sutia,
with winch I will conclude. He says "It is a well-known
physiological law that the semen has great connection with the
intellect, and w r e might add the spirituality, of man The
abstaining from waste of this important element ot being gives
power, the real occult power such as is desired. No yoya is
ever leportod successful without the observance of this rule as
an essential preliminary "

It only remains to be said that in the many commentanes
on yoga the purpose and process are veiled m quasi-scientific
mythology. The ' power ' is said to creep silently like a serpent
from the lowest chakram to the highest thnt is, from the tests
to the brain.

VI. PERSONAL SEXUAL ETHIC

Ethic in general is derived from facts given in the experience
of life whether of individuals or societies or the race. Historically,
it has often been formulated by some outstanding peisonahty,
and sometimes invested with a divine or semi-divine authority.
Moses, the Buddha, Confucius, Socrates, Aristotle, Christ, and
great moralists and philosophers who in all countries followed
them, all proposed, each in their separate day and country, some
criterion by which human conduct might be tried. A general
ethical system is dependent, then, upon metaphysics, 'psychology,
physiology and sociology, which together supply the facts, or

GENERATION AND REGENERATION 223

supposed facts, which speak for themselves. A personal sexual
ethic, therefore, for any age or civilization will be drawn from
the data which most impress men in their own experience. This
personal sexual ethic, like the social sexual ethic, varies from age
to age, but it has some elements of stability in it, which are
more or less permanent.

In attempting to formulate a personal sexual ethic for
these times, one would draw from all known facts and proba-
bilities, especially when these are confirmed by the experience
of reliable observers I am not assuming too much when I say
that the facts adduced m my sections I to V suggest immedi-
ately to the mind of a candid and intelligent reader a number
of logical and inevitable conclusions From the point of view of
bodily, mental and spintul welfare, sexual continence would
appear to be the irrefutable law deduced from the facts But
immediately anothei law springs up to challenge it "the law
m our members" c is the Christian apostle calls it. We are m
the presence oi an antinomy law contradicting law The older
law is that of Nature, whence we have sexual impulse tho
newer law is that oi intuition, of science, of exponenco oi
conviction, of ideal. Obedience to the older law tends to decay and
premature death (speaking relatively) Uio path of the newer law
is beset with difficulties so great that one hardly listens seriously
to its voice. People cannot get, themselves lo believe the statement
ol the case. They begin at once to say Dub, but, but ? It is
worthy of remark here that the formulation of the strictest
ethic by ijoyin, bhikkhu and monk does not, as is so aften
believed, vest on mythologic fables or superstitions, but on an
intuition of the physiological facts described in this essay

T know of no modern writer who has stated the case for
the sexual ethic for the Christian more forcibly or clearly than
Leo Tolstoy, the now discredited idealist of what once was Eussia.
I print it here as an illustration of the old philosopher's views .

102. The instinct of the continuation of the race the
sexual instinct is innate in man. In the animal condition he
* The reader should remember that Tolstoy's definition of sin
has no theological connotation; sin is defined by him as that which
constitutes an obstacle to the manifestation of love, which in its turn
is denned as universal goodwill.

224 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

fulfils his destiny by satisfying this instinct, and in so fulfilling
it finds welfare.

103. But with the awakening of consciousness, it appears
to man that the gratification of this instinct may increase the
welfare of his separate being, and he enters into sexual intercourse,
not with the object of continuing the race, but to increase his
personal welfare. This constitutes the sexual sin. . . .

107. In the first case, when man desires to keep chaste t
and to consecrate all his powers to the service of God, sexual
sin will consist in any sexual intercourse whatever, even though
it has for its object the birth and rearing of children The
purest marriage state will be such an innate sin for the n>an
who has chosen the alternative of chastity.

113. The sexual sin, i.e., mistake, for the man who has
chosen the service of chastity, consists in this he might have
chosen the highest vocation and used all his powers in service
of God, and consequently, for tbe spread of love and towards
the attainment of the highest welfare, instead of which he
descends to a lower plane of life and deprives himself of
his welfare.

114. The sexual sin or mistake for the man who has chosen
to continue the race will consist in the fact that, by depriving
himself of having children or, at all events, of family relationships,
he deprives himself of the highest welfare of sexual life.

115. In addition to this as with the gratification of all
needs those who try to increase the pleasure of sexual inter-
course diminish the natural pleasure in proportion as they
addict themselves to lust.

It will be observed that Tolstoy's doctrine is in ethical
relativity, the effective absolute is not fixed for man by "God
or some authoritative teacher, but is chosen by the individual
himself. All that is necessary is 'that he should conform to
the law he has accepted.

Such an ethic offers a series of descending prohibitions.
To the man who has a conviction in favour of entire continence,
and who intelligently controls himself for higher physical and

t The words chaste and chastity are used by the author in their
Russian signification which includes complete abstinence from sexual
Intercourse .

GENERATION AND REGENERATION 225

psychic ends, any form of sexual indulgence is disallowed; to
the man who has entered into the bond of marriage, sexuality
outside it is forbidden. Further, promiscuous or irregular inter-
course of the unmarried would* nevertheless exclude such a
degrading relation as prostitution, while any person engaging in
natural act should shun unnatural vices. Finally, to any class
of persons indulging at all, over-indulgence would be regarded as
an evil, while for the immature and the youthful, indulgence
should be postponed. Such is the system of sexual ethic.

I can hardly think that anyone can be found incapable of
understanding the nature of this general sexual ethic, and there
must be very few who would on serious reflection deny its
force. There is a tendency, however, to meet such an ethic by
sophistry of various kinds. People suppose that because continence
is difficult and undoubtedly rare, its advocacy is invalid. Logically
they should say the same of fidelity in marriage which is in
some cases difficult or restricted indulgence within it, or
adherence to the natural practice. If they deny one ideal, they
may deny all and permit us to fail into the lowest vices and
inordinate lust. Why not ? The only reasonable and logical
method is to follow the star above us, the star of the ideal
that leads us out of one declension after another and enables,
us to conquer by the power of one law, the power of its
antinomy. Thus by the intelligent and volitional practice of
this ethic a man may conceivably be raised from the unnatural
vices of youth to natural indulgence even if promiscuous; from
this he may be drawn to the discipline of married fidelity, and
for the sake of himself and his partner, to such restraint as
they are able to endure. The same ethic may lead him on to
the higher victories of continence, or indeed catch him before
he has sunk to the several lower phases of indulgence.

VII. EROS AND AGAPE

The New Testament has much teaching in reference to
love 1 , and adopts two conceptions, which must be separately
examined. The first is that of eras, the passive love of life, of
the world, of man and woman, of the manifold sensations an#
emotions that yield us pleasure. This eros is not a matter of
our wilful choice; we are attracted here and repelled there; we

226 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

gravitate to life itself, by forces that seem to be greater
than ourselves, and to 'which we, for the most part,
respond by appropriate aetion. Our likes and dislikes, our loves
and hates, our affection and disaffection from one system in
eros. For what does eras ask ? For welfare : for welfare of that
separate personality in*whioh the claims are felt most keenly
namely, for 'myself. And that welfare is pursued with egoistic
motive through every life, every generation, every nation, growing
in intensity and remorselessness, until it reaches, as lately, a state
of world-war. It passes through innumerable phases, adopts, by
the aid of the intellect, all kinds of mechanical and economic
devices, and is at the present moment incarnate in the system
of modern civilization.

What, then, we may legitimately ask, was the Christian
teaching about this eros, this love of life ? Was it to be despised,
neglected, resisted, or stamped out ? Or, was it to be given free
rein to attain its ends ? All the teaching as to eros may be
summed up in the simple words : "Your Heavenly Father knoweth
what thing ye have need of", and " Seek ye first the Kingdom
of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be
added unto you ". Eros is not to be destroyed, but transcended;
a higher aim is proposed by Christ which, if attempted with
success, will lead to a ' more abundant life 1 in which a purified
eros has its share.

It is here we meet with the essential Christian Love called
in the New Testament agape. We are able to understand at
once its distinctive quality as compared with eros. Agape,
unlike eros, is an act of personal will. It is loving-kindness*
that overrides attraction and repulsion, and so can be extended to
friend and enemy alike. Christian love emphatically is not, therefore,
the weak and sentimental emotion it is so often supposed to be,
but is, in its very nature, an effort of the will that rises above
all emotion. It is not merely will, but will qualified by goodness^
and the Christians, in exercising such love accomplish and
facilitate for others the aims of their eros; like the Heavenly
Father, he also "knows whafr things men have need of. By
means of the faculties of imagination and compassion he is
prompted to meet their needs, for, as he would that men should
do for him, so he strives to do for them: for he knows that

GENERATION AND REGENERATION 227

eras in them, as in him, asks for life. The Christian conception
of life, therefore, does not deny the claims of eras, but
emphasizes the duty of agape. Christian ethic is thus a new
life direction, a turning round from the way of the world, from
the seeking of private welfare, to positive goodwill and universal
welfare.

The early Christians were taught, like other people, a 'golden
rule', but even though this were intelligible enough they were
taught also something still more lofty and metaphysical : men
are to imitate God : as He is perfect in loving-kindness, so also
must His servants be " because God is love", hoti ho theos
agape estin. (Matt, v, 48; John Ep. I, IV, 8).

VIII. SOCIAL SEXUAL ETHIC

Just as society is the extension and co-ordination of the
activities of individuals, so a social sexual ethic rises out of
a personal one. In other words, society requires additions to
and qualifications of the personal ethic, and the chief instance
of these is the institution of marriage. A great deal has been
written upon the history of marriage by learned scientists, and
the data collected are immense. Nothing but the bare conclusion
need be cited here in order to enable us to refer to modern
expedients that are being offered.

Anciently, and arising out of the facts of the human repro-
duction, the mother was naturally the more important of the'
two partners. She was, as she still is, the chief agent of nature's
process. Within her and around her are the centres of family
growth. Consequently matriarchy, or the rule of the mother,
was once widely recognized, and polyandry, the practice v of
associating several males with the central female, was admitted.
There are vestiges of this system still in vogue among the primitive
tribes of Asia. Out of it, and partly as a consequence of tribal
association, the status of the husband was evolved. One of the
several men associated with the mother the strongest and most
attractive defender was raised to a position of preference. Indeed,
the word 'husband 1 contains the history of the institution down
to early Scandinavian times. He was husbiwndi, the house-dweller,
bound, as others were not, to the house. Eventually, the husband

228 SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE

became the master of the house, and one of this class the chief
or king of the tribe, and just as under the matriarchy the
practice of polyandry appeared, so under male rule the practice
of polygamy developed.

Psychologically, therefore, if not socially, man is naturally
polygamous and woman naturally polyandrous/ As a male, the man
radiates his desire in many directions always lighting for the
time being on the most attractive of the opposite sex. And
similarly with the female, But human society, both primitive
and modern, could not exist unless some check were placed upon
the promiscuous, natural, psychological impulses, which are, in
all species and kingdoms below the human, exuberant and
prolific. The check invented by society inevitably was marriage,
and eventually monogamous marriage v Its only alternative is
promiscuity and the utter disruption, at least, of the present
form of society. We can, of course, see the contest going on before
our eyes. Prostitution, irregular and non-legal unions, adulteries
and divorces are the day-to-day evidence that monogamous
marriage has not established itself in power over the older and
more primitive relationships. Will it ever do so ?

Meanwhile, notice must be given to an expedient that has
long been secretly present with us, but has lately shown its
face without shame. It is called 'Birth Control', and consists in
the use of chemical and mechanical means for preventing con-
ception. Conception, of course, apart from its burden upon the
woman, places a restraint for a considerable time upon the
man, especially upon the man of good feeling. Birth control or
contraception removes all prudential motives for self-restraint
and makes it possible for sexual indulgence in marriage to be
limited only by the diminution of desire or the advance of age.
Apart from this, however, it inevitably has an influence outside
the marriage relation. It opens the door for irregular, promiscuous
and unfruitful unions, which from the point of view of modern
industry, sociology and politics, are full of dangers. I cannot go
into these here. It is sufficient to say that by contraception,
inordinate sexual indulgence both in and out of marriage is faci-
litated, and, if I am right in my foregqing physiological arguments,
evil must come to both individuals and the race.

CHASTITY AND SENSUALITY 229

IX. CONCLUSION

Like the seed cast by the sower, this essay will fall into
the hands of some who will despise it, of those who from
incapacity or sheer idleness will not even understand it. In
some of those who for the first time hear of its ideas it will
rouse opposition and even anger , but to a few it will appeal as
truthful and useful. Yet even they will find doubts and questions
rising in their minds. The simplest of them will say to me :
*' According to your arguments sexual intercourse ought not to take
place, the world would then become unpeopled which is absurd !
Therefore you must be wrong." My reply is that I have no such
dangerous nostrum to offer. 'Birth Control' is the most potent
form of birth prevention and will depopulate the world faster
than the attempted practice of continence My purpose is a
simple one by offering certain philosophic and scientific truths
as a challenge to ignorance and indulgence, I desire to help to
purify the sexual life of our time.

Appendix II

CHASTITY AND SENSUALITY*

The subject of sex is a remarkable one, since, though its
phenomena concern us so much, both directly and indirectly, and,
sooner or later, it occupies the thoughts of all, yet all mankind,
as it were, agree to be silent about it, at least the sexes
-commonly one to another. One of the most interesting of all
human facts is veiled more completely than any mystery. It is
treated with such secrecy and awe as surely do not go to any
religion. I believe that it is unusual even for the most intimate
friends to communicate the pleasures and anxieties connected
with this fact, much as the external affair of love, its comings
and goings are bruited. The Shakers do not exaggerate it so
much by their manner of speaking of it as all mankind by
their manner of keeping silence about it. Not that men should
speak on this or any subject without having anything worthy
to say; but it is plain that the education of man has hardly
commenced there is so little genuine intercommunication.
* From Essays by Henry David Thoreau.

230 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

In a pure society, the subject of marriage would not be
so often avoided from shame and not from reverence, winked
out of sight, and hinted at only, but treated naturally and
simply perhaps simply avoided, like the kindred mysteries. If
it cannot be spoken of for shame, how can it be acted of ? But
doubtless, there is far more purity, as well as more impurity,
than is apparent.

Men commonly couple with their idea of marriage a slight
degree at least of sensuality, but every lover the world over
believes in its inconceivable purity.

If it is the result of a pure love, there can be nothing
sensual in marriage. Chastity is something positive, not negative.
It is the virtue of the married especially. All lusts or base
pleasures must give place to loftier delights. They who meet as
superior beings cannot perform the doeds of inferior ones. The
deeds of love are less questionable than any action of an
individual can be, for, it being founded on the rarest mutual
respect, the parties incessantly stimulate each other to a loftier
and purer life, and the act in which they are associated must
be pure and noble indeed, for innocence and purity can have
no equal. In this relation we deal with one whom we respect
more religiously even than we respect our better selves, and
we shall necessarily conduct as in the presence of God What
presence can be more awful to the lover than the presence of
his beloved ?

If you seek the warmth evon of affection from a similar
motive to that from which cats and dogs and slothful persons
hug the fire, because your temperature is low through sloth,
you are on the downward road, and it is but to plunge yet
deeper into sloth. Better the cold affection of the sun, reflected
from fields of ice and snow, or his warmth in some still wintry
dell. The .warmth of celestial love does not relax but nerves
and braces its enjoyer. Warm your body by healthful exercise,
not by cowering over a stove. Warm your spirit by performing
independently noble deeds, not by ignobly seeking the sympathy
of your fellows who are no better than yourself. A man's-
social and spiritual discipline must answer to his * corporeal.
He must lean on a friend who lias a hard breast, as he would
lie on a hard bed. He must drink cold water for his only

CHASTITY AND SENSUALITY 231

beverage. So he must not hear sweetened and coloured words,
but pure and refreshing truths. He must daily bathe in truth
cold as spring water, not warmed by the sympathy of friends.

Can love be in ought allied to dissipation ? Let us love by
refusing, not accepting, one another. Love and lust are far asunder.
The one is good, the other bad. When the affectionate sympa-
thize by their higher natures, there is love; but there is danger
that they will sympathize by their lower natures, and then
there is lust. It is not necessary that this be deliberate, hardly
even conscious; but, in the close contact of affection, there is
danger that we may stain and pollute one another, for we
cannot embrace but with an entire embrace. . *

We must love our friend so much that she shall be associated
with our purest and holiest thoughts alone. When there is impurity
we have 'descended to meet', though we know it not.

The luxury of affection, there's the danger. There must
be some nerve and heroism in our love, as of a winter morning.
In the religion of all nations a purity is hinted at, which, I
fear, men never attain to. We may love and not elevate one
another. The lave that takes us as it finds us degrades us.
What watch we must keep over the fairest and purest of our
affections, lest there be some taint about them ! May we so
love as never to have occasion to repent of our love !

There is to be attributed to sensuality the loss to language
of how many pregnant symbols ? Flowers which, by their infinite
hues and fragrance, celebrate the marriage of the plants, are
intended, for a symbol of the open and unsuspected beauty of
all true marriage, when man's flowering season arrives.

Virginity too is a budding flower, and by an impure marriage
the virgin is deflowered. Whoever loves flowers loves virgins
and chastity. Love and lust are as far asunder as a flower-
garden is from a brothel.

J. Biberg, in the Amoemtates Botamcoe, edited by Linnaeus,
observes ( I translate from the Latin ) : The organs of genera-
tion, which, in the animal kingdom, are for the most part con-
cealed by nature, as if they were to be ashamed of, in the
vegetable kingdom are exposed to the eyes of all; and when the
nuptials of plants are celebrated, it is wonderful what delight
they afford to the beholder, refreshing the senses with the most

232 SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE

agreeable colour and the sweetest odour; and, at the same time,
bees and other insects, not to mention the humming-bird,
extract honey from their nectaries and gather wax from their
effete pollen." Linnaeus himself calls the calyx the thalamus,
or bridal chamber : and the corolla the auloeum, or tapestry of
it, and proceeds to explain thus every part of the flower.

Who knows but evil spirits might corrupt the flowers them-
selves, rob them of their fragrance and their fair hues, and turn
their m&rriage into a secret shame and defilement ? Already
they are of various qualities, and there is one whose nuptials
fill the lowlands in June with the odour of carrion.

The intercourse of the sexes, I have dreamed, is incredibly
bea'atiful, too fair to be remembered. I have had thoughts about
it, bu^ they are among the most fleeting and irrecoverable in
my experience. It is strange that man will talk of miracles,
revelation, inspiration, and the like, as things past, while love
remains.

A true marriage will differ in no wise from illumination.
In all perception of the truth there is a divine ecstasy, an
inexpressible delirium of joy, as when a youth embraces his
betrothed virgin. The ultimate delights of a true marriage are
one with this.

No wonder that out of such a union, not as end, but as
accompaniment, comas the undying race of man. The womb is
a most fertile soil.

Some have asked if the stock of man could not be improved,
if they could not be bred as cattle. Let love be purified, and
all the rest will follow. A pure love is thus, indeed, the panacea
for all the ills of the world.

The only excuse for reproduction is improvement. Nature
abhors repetition. Beasts merely propagate their kind; but the
offspring of noble men and women will be superior to them-
selves, as their aspirations are. By their fruits ye shall know them.